Honorable Mention – 2017 Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award |

Louisa Gouliamaki is a Greek-Polish photojournalist based in Athens, Greece.

Gouliamaki is a permanent stringer for the Agence France-Presse with more than 25 years of experience in news and conflict reporting. Throughout her career, she has been covering conflicts like the Albanian revolution, the conflicts in former Yugoslavia, the Kosovo War and its aftermath, the conflict in Georgia, the anti-globalisation protests, the riots in Athens, the revolution in Kiev and the refugee crisis.

Part of her work documenting the protests in Greece, triggered by the economic crisis, The Protestors, was awarded with honors at the Pictures of the Year International (POYi) in 2012 and exhibited at major photo festivals in Greece and abroad. In 2015 Gouliamaki documented the refugee crisis, parallel with the political developments in Greece and continued through 2016 covering thousands of refugees and migrants stranded in Greece.

Gouliamaki in Idomeni, Greece

Louisa Gouliamaki

Gouliamaki at the border of Idomeni, Greece

Louisa Gouliamaki’s Photos

Warning: Images contain graphic content

A man evacuates a boy, while other migrants and refugees lay on the ground after Macedonian police fired tear gas at hundreds of migrants who tried to break through the Greek border fence in Idomeni, on February 29, 2016. A temporary border closure and more restrictions at the end of February resulted in clashes between the disgruntled asylum seekers and Macedonian police, who fired tear gas to disperse the angry mob that stormed the border, including women and children, ramming down a metal gate. Macedonian police deployed additional troops to prevent further clashes, with two rows of barbed-wire fencing to hold the migrants back set up earlier in the week.

The main migrant trail from Greece to northern Europe was closed March 9 after western Balkan nations slammed shut their borders, hiking pressure for an EU-Turkey deal and exacerbating a dire situation on the Macedonian border. Thousands of refugees were stranded at the northern Idomeni border crossing with Macedonia at a muddy, unhygienic camp operated by aid groups.

A child coughs as migrants and refugees run away after Macedonian police fired tear gas at hundreds of Iraqi and Syrian migrants who tried to break through the Greek border fence in Idomeni, on February 29, 2016.

A temporary border closure and more restrictions at the end of February resulted in clashes between the disgruntled asylum seekers and Macedonian police, who fired tear gas to disperse the angry mob that stormed the border, including women and children, ramming down a metal gate. Macedonian police deployed additional troops to prevent further clashes, with two rows of barbed-wire fencing to hold the migrants back set up earlier in the week.

Migrants sit on rail tracks as they face a fence guarded by Macedonian police at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the Greek village of Idomeni, on February 29, 2016, where thousands of people are stranded. Macedonian police fired tear gas as a group of some 300 Iraqi and Syrians forced their way through a Greek police cordon and raced towards a railway track between the two countries, as anger mounted over travel restrictions on migrants.

Idomeni, Greece – 27 February 2016. Refugees wait next to borders crossing at the Greek -Macedonian borders near the village of Idomeni. More than a million migrants and refugees crossed into Europe in 2015, sparking a crisis as countries struggled to cope with the influx, and creating division in the EU over how best to deal with resettling people.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing war and poverty from mostly Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan passed through the Greek border town of Idomeni onwards to FYR Macedonia, taking the Balkan route now sealed shut to northern Europe. The former point of passage is now a massive unofficial camp, with more than ten thousand refugees stranded.

A Syrian mother tries to warm up her daughter by a makeshift bonfire, after their arrival on the island of Lesbos, early on June 18, 2015. More than a million migrants and refugees crossed into Europe in 2015, sparking a crisis as countries struggled to cope with the influx, and creating division in the EU over how best to deal with resettling people.

Refugees walk at the port of Piraeus after arriving from the islands of Lesbos and Chios on February 1, 2016. More than a million migrants and refugees crossed into Europe in 2015, sparking a crisis as countries struggled to cope with the influx, and creating division in the EU over how best to deal with resettling people. The arrivals have continued in early 2016. Hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing war and poverty from mostly Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan took a dangerous sea crossing from Turkey to Greek islands and traveled towards the Greek border town of Idomeni onwards to FYR Macedonia, taking the Balkan route now sealed shut to northern Europe.

Protesters clash with police after gaining new positions near the Independence square in Kiev on February 20, 2014. Hundreds of armed protesters charged police barricades Thursday on Kiev’s central Independence Square, despite a truce called just hours earlier by the country’s embattled president. Protesters pushed the police back and were in control of most of the square they had occupied at the start of Ukraine’s three-month-old political crisis.

Protesters advance to new positions in Kiev on February 20, 2014. Ukraine suffered one of its bloodiest days on February 20 with a gun battle in central Kiev. Three hours of fierce fighting in Independence Square, which was recaptured by anti-government protesters, left the bodies of dozens of civilians strewn on the ground. The mourning and funerals continued for weeks.

Protesters evacuate a wounded colleague in Kiev, on February 20, 2014. Hundreds of armed protesters charged police barricades on Kiev’s central Independence Square, despite a truce called just hours earlier by the country’s embattled president. Top officials were evacuated from Ukraine’s main government building close to clashes in the heart of Kiev that left many protesters dead with apparent gun shot wounds.

Protesters boots are left at a makeshift memorial at the Independence square in central Kiev on February 28, 2014. Ukraine suffered one of its bloodiest days on February 20 with a gun battle in central Kiev. Three hours of fierce fighting in Independence Square, which was recaptured by anti-government protesters, left the bodies of dozens of civilians strewn on the ground. The mourning and funerals continued for weeks.