Nikos Aliagas was born in Paris from Hellenic parents, on 13th of May, 1969. He inherited from both Hellenic and French cultures and he grew up between both countries, their languages and their strong and thriving cultures.
In the late 1980s he studied Modern French Literature at the University of Sorbonne (Paris IV).
Today he is an internationally established journalist, and esteemed TV – radio host & presenter, and a celebrated photographer.
Nikos Aliagas has a grand passion for photography which, inter alia, was rewarded by a solo exhibition at the renowned Harcourt Studio in Paris. Plenty of the most famous showbiz stars have posed for Nikos Aliagas, including Dustin Hoffman, Claudia Cardinale, Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, Shakira and Monica Belucci.
He has developed an influential profile in the social media and more specifically on Twitter, where he uploads photos of the stars he interviews. He also tweets scenic shots of the Eiffel Tower and Hellas. His photographs are enjoyed by his hundreds of thousands of followers.
Today, Nikos Aliagas photography works are to be found in important private and public collections, in established museums, foundations and institutions and are traded in respectful Auction Houses such as Christie’s.
As far as his radio and television successful and popular career is concerned, Nikos Aliagas started his journalistic career at Radio France Internationale, Euronews and then at France 2, before joining the team of the first channel of French television, TF1 and later in Europe1.
He has interviewed the majority of today’s leading entertainment personalities, film and music icons, writers, directors and politicians. Angelina Jolie, Meryl Streep, Sting, Dustin Hoffman, Paulo Coelho, Pedro Almodóvar, Brad Pitt, Robert Redford, Jean Reno, Carla Bruni and Nicole Kidman are among his guests. In 2012 he interviewed Robert De Niro and John Travolta who both declared their love for Hellas, following holidays in the Hellenic islands. Throughout his career, he has also interviewed many influential politicians such as Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, Konstantinos Stephanopoulos, Nicolas Sarkozy, Yasser Arafat, Madeleine Albright. Melina Merkouri gave one of her last interviews to him for the Euronews Channel.
In May 2007, Nikos Aliagas was announced Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, one of the most distinguished awards in France, in honour to his contribution to French broadcasting. Moreover, he has been privileged with numerous significant titles and awards among which with:
- the Gold Medal of the City of Missolonghi, Greece, birth place of his ancestors, 2018
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the IFG Award, 2013, established by the International Foundation for Greece (IFG) in association with the Hellenic Post (ELTA) issuing exclusively a special edition stamp depicting living Hellenes who live abroad and, not only do they not forget their Hellenic origin, but through their great work, they promote and enliven the Hellenic spirit. For the first time over the years and exclusively for IFG, living Hellenes are eligible to be featured and honoured for their achievements on Hellenic postage stamps.
- the Order of Xenios Zeus by the Greek Ministry of Culture and Tourism, 2004, in recognition of his significant contribution to this field.
Noteworthy is the installation, on 7th of December 2016, of his waxwork figure into the Grévin Museum, Paris next to Omar Sy, Celine Dion, Brad Pitt or George Clooney.
In parallel with his artistic career, he has published several books such as:
- L’Épreuve du temps, La Martinière Publishing, 2018
- Ce que j’aimerais te dire, 2014
- Nikos Now, Editions Acanthe, 2011 (his first book of photographs)
- An immigrant’s notes, Editions Electra, 2007 (only in Hellas)
- Aller voir chez les Grecs, Editions Jean-Claude Lattes, with emphasis on his Hellenic roots,
Furthermore, he is associated with several charities, the work of whose he finds most rewarding. He has been announced:
- Honorary Patron of the International Foundation for Greece Aspasia Leventis (IFG), main goals of which are the promotion of the Hellenic culture abroad in collaboration with international personalities of arts and science, plus the social contribution
- Patron of the Cystic Fibrosis Charity Association Grégory Lemarchal
- Patron of the Charitable Foundation Wheeling Around the World which provides to people with disabilities access and necessary knowledge in order to facilitate their global traveling
- Ambassador of various campaigns promoting the awareness and prevention of HIV.
Remarkable is his presence in the Press, since a wide record of articles extensively refers to him and his work.
Klout, the social media analytic website, ranks him as the most influential reporter in the French media.
Biographical notes: When he was a young boy, he found a shoebox full of old black and white family photographs. Seeing his parents depicted at such a young age, he brutally realized that time goes by inexorably: ‘This representation of time passing on their faces was brutal. Chronos the Greek god of Time and Destiny entered my life through an image. And the carelessness of childhood was gone that day.’
He got his first camera from his father, a Kodak instamatic. As a self-made man and a teenager back then, he was trying to express through images and snapshots what words cannot say: ‘I needed to tell a story. I was observing silently the adult world through my lens. Everyday, I captured hundreds of images that I scrolled through my head before falling asleep. Photographing the world was a revelation.’
Daydreaming from his maid’s room and on the way to his first night job at Radio France International, he started to feel the temptation of living in the light. He decided to leave photography aside to try something else: ‘I wanted to talk to people, hide my children’s complexes and become another version of myself in the light.’
With a little nerve and a lot of work, he got his press card at 22 years old and started learning journalism in the field: RFI, Radio Notre Dame, Radio Avp, Euronews, ERTTV, TV5, France 2, etc.
Nikos Aliagas was then widely exploring the media world and preparing himself to carve his very own place there.
At the end of 90s, he met Christine Bravo, a famous French anchor at that time, and got introduced to entertainment joining her team on prime time. In 2001 he went to the biggest TV Channel of France TF1, he got a first taste of notoriety and popularity as millions were glancing at him through their TV. But even then, Nikos never stopped seeing the world surrounding him in the same way as he did it as a child: ‘To be known is often a misunderstanding, to be recognized for what one really is reveals another story. Television has taught me a lot about being human, but it’s also a distorting magnifying glass, it can smoothen, hoist and unscrew those who forget where they came from.’
Nikos Aliagas never forgot that each image replaces another.
Photography
In the early 2000s, as to reconnect with an intimate passion, he went back to his camera to once again observe the world through its lenses: ‘The photo does not judge, it is the man who gauges.’
Nikos Aliagas does not capture faces like a collector, he tries to capture the essence of each person, the mystery of their existence: ‘We are all someone unknown, whether I photograph Brad Pitt or a Greek fisherman returning to port. For me, it’s the same thing, it’s the story of a human being whom time accompanies.’
Time and its stigmas are one of the favourite themes of Nikos Aliagas, as an eternal search of a suspended moment in the implacable finitude of our existence. His exhibitions are engraved by tenderness and nostalgia.
Faces weathered by labour, hands worn by years, skins like the parchment of a life, elders with children’s eyes, children with ancestral souls: that is the dream world of Nikos the photographer. ‘Beyond our pretences and our postures. When smiles hide deep silences, when the mask of certainties falls and flaws appear in the mirror, when the body keeps only the essentials, the proofs of time come into the frame. And I try to be there.’
He holds a great number of solo exhibitions in Hellas and abroad while his work is presented in several international group shows and art fairs.
Last Exhibitions:
2020:
- Planche(s) Contact Deauville Photography Festival, October 17th 2020 – January 3rd, 2021
- ‘Thalassa’ Peoples οf The Sea, open-air Boulevardde la Croisette, Cannes, June 25th – August 31st
2019:
- Photographs of the Apollon Citharède, 10thcampaign ‘Tous mécènes !’, Musée du Louvre, November 5th 2019 – February 28th 2020
- Missolonghi, Town οf My Ancestors, Bordeaux, June 19th – October 20th
- Kalos Kagathos, Photographs Exhibition and Benefit Auction, Christie’s Paris
2018:
- The Work οf Time, DIDAM Festival, Bayonne, November 2nd 2018 – January 27th 2019
- The Work οf Time, Gallery Quai Antoine 1ER, PhotoMonaco, Monaco, April 5th – April 8th
- The Work οf Time, Diexodos, The Literature Art Center, Missolonghi, March 17th – April 29th
- 48 Heures à Genève, Geneva Train Station, Switzerland, March 15th – 21st
- The Work οf Time, Abbaye de Villers-la-Ville, Belgium, January 20th – April 28th
2017:
- Les Journées de l’Art-Bre, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, September 4th
- The Test οf Time, Brongniart Palace, Paris, France, January 16th – February 16th
- CréativeImagelab, Rencontres Internationales de la Photographied’Arles– Summer Photography Festival, Arles, France
2016:
- The Test οf Time, Photo Docks Art Fair, Lyon, October 9th
- Corps Et Âmes, Fort Saint-André, Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, June 18th 2016 – January 8th 2017
- Corps Et Âmes, La Conciergerie, Paris, March 24th – May 22nd