Biography
Enri Canaj was born in Tirana, Albania, in 1980. He spent his early childhood there and moved with his family to Greece in 1991, immediately after the opening of the borders. He studied photography in Athens and in 2007 he took part in a British Council project on migration, attending a year-long workshop with photographer Nikos Economopoulos.
Since 2008, he has been a freelance photographer for major national and international publications.
Enri Canaj is member of Magnum Photos .
At-present he is based in Athens and covers stories in Greece, Albania, and the Balkans, west & north Europe .
Education
• Leica Academy, School of Photography
Associate’s Degree in Photography, Athens, Greece, 2001-2004
• “City Street”, a year long photography workshop with Nikos Economopoulos, Magnum photographer, in collaboration with British Council, Athens, Greece , 2007- 2008
Exhibitions:
- Collective exhibition with The European Parliament, Brussels / Belgium, Luxembourg, Strasbourg, 30th Anniversary of SAKHAROV prize - “They defend our freedoms” profiling human rights activist from Ethiopia, 2018
- Personal exhibition at Arles Festival, France - “The Wind Cries War” 2017
- Personal Exhibition “Parallel Ways” at SpazioReale Switzerland 2016.
- Personal Exhibition “ In a Sharp of Frame” Museum of Contemporary Art of Thessaloniki, Greece 2016.
- Collective exhibition in collaboration with Solidarity now Organization “ The journey - People on the move” - Benaki Museum Athens Greece 2016.
- Personal exhibition “ The wind cries war” - HANOVER Photo Festival 2016
- Personal exhibition “ The wind cries war” Photo Lucca Festival in Pisa Italy 2016.
- Personal exhibition “ Albania a Homecoming” Phest Photo Festival - Monopoly Bari Italy 2016.
- Personal exhibition “The wind cries War” - Vovousa Festival Greece, 2016
- Personal exhibition “ The wind cries war” Bursa Foto Fest, Bursa /Turkey 2015.
- Personal exhibition “ Journeys” DokuFest Prizren, Kosovo 2015.
- Personal exhibition “ Shadow in Greece” Foto Art Festival, Poland 2015.
- Collective exhibition “Shadow in Greece” - BOZAR Centre Fine Arts, Brussels 2014
-Personal exhibition “Shadow in Greece” The Athens Photo Festival, Athens/ Greece. 2013
-Collective exhibition “City Street” The European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium, 2009
-Personal exhibition “ City Street” The Athens Photo Festival, Athens, Greece, 2009
-Collective exhibition “ City Street” at The Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece, Thessaloniki 2008
-Collective exhibition “City Street” at Bilgi Santral, Istanbul, Turkey, 2008
Grant & Awards
- IMEDD 2023
- Stavros Niarchos Foundation - photography project grand (Shipping labor in Bangladesh) - 2021
- NEON Cultural Centre – supporting a book project - 2021
- Olympus photo project grand 2017-2019
- Philip Jones Griffiths Grand - 2017
- Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation for documentary Photography - 2016
- Photography freelance Award at LUMIX Festival - 2016
- JGS Content, grand “Albania A-Homecoming” project - 2013
National and International Media publications :
- Times Magazine
- CNN
- The Guardian
- New York Times
- New York Magazine
- Financial Times
- MSNBC Photography
- Newsweek
- National Geographic
- Le Monde
- Lobs
- Wall Street Journal
- Politico
- ERD
- Deutsche Welle
- Arte TV
- VOGUE US
- SZ Magazine
- De Velde
Collaborations with other institutions:
- British Council Greece
- Princeton University
- UNICEF
- Melissa - Network of Migrant Women in Greece
- MSF
- Solidarity Now
- Praxis
- European Parliament
- US embassy in Greece
- British embassy in Greece
- Thessaloniki Documentary Festival
- Irish Pages - A Journal of Contemporary Writing
- Leica Academy Athens