"Unexpected Encounter" Photography Exhibition with photographers from Korea and Greece

What happens when people who have known each other for years through images meet in person for the very first time?

The answer unfolds in the photography exhibition “Unexpected Encounter”, presented by the Centre for Creative Photography of Thrace at the Historical Museum of Alexandroupolis, bringing together photographers from Korea and Greece.

This is an exhibition that begins with something simple, yet deeply human: an encounter. A gaze, a journey, a photograph, an invitation, a relationship quietly built over time. Because every journey, before it becomes a memory, begins with an unexpected connection with a person, a place, or another way of seeing the world.

For more than eight years, Korean and Greek photographers have remained connected through international photography exhibitions. They have shared images, ideas, invitations, and artistic journeys. And yet, despite this long-standing relationship, the exhibition in Alexandroupolis marks their first face-to-face meeting.

Until now, they knew one another through their photographs. But a photograph, however powerful, reveals only one part of the person behind the lens. Behind every image lies a life filled with experiences, memories, cultures, journeys, and personal stories. What seems familiar may still conceal something unknown. And this is where the real encounter begins.

“Unexpected Encounter” captures precisely this moment of transition: from image to presence, from artistic acquaintance to meaningful dialogue, from distance to connection.

It is not simply a photography exhibition. It is an open space for cultural exchange between Korea and Greece. An invitation to discover how different perspectives, different cultures, and different personal paths can meet through the shared language of photography.

The participating photographers are: Yiannis Gogkos, Yiannis Kaltseras, Yiannis Boultadakis, Candy Kwon, Choi Youngkwi, Jung Okyoung, Kwak Poungyoung, and Shin Eunju.

The exhibition is not presented as the end of a journey, but as a beginning. The beginning of a friendship, a new artistic dialogue, and future exchanges between photographers from Korea and Greece. A reminder that art can shorten distances, open conversations, and bring people closer together — even those who, until yesterday, knew one another only through their images.

Venue: Historical Museum of Alexandroupolis, 335 Dimokratias Avenue, Alexandroupolis, 68132
Opening: Monday, 6 July 2026, 19:30
Duration: 6–11 July 2026
Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 10:30–14:30