An Unfinished House Has Many Views
14 Feb, 2026
This series reflects on the challenging process of securing a home—a safe space in a world shaped by rising rents and accelerating gentrification. It unfolds as a long-term exploration, shaped as much by memory and emotion as by bricks and beams.Drawing on childhood memories of his parents building their family home, along with stories from relatives who endured the hardships of post-dictatorship Greece, the photographer considers home not as a fixed destination, but as an ongoing negotiation—one that is personal, political, and deeply material.Several images adopt the explanatory visual language of a manual from a large furniture retailer—except here, the manual is broken. Rather than presenting polished visions of completion, the photographs dwell in the in-between: unfinished rooms, corners charged with intention, gestures of care and improvisation.The work embraces imperfection and reconsiders what it means to inhabit, to build, and to belong.
Ilias Lois (b. Athens) is an artist whose work explores the notion of home, contemporary life in European urban centers, and the materiality of objects and technologies. His practice examines the translation of the three-dimensional world into two-dimensional surfaces—and the reverse process that may follow. He is particularly interested in photographic sequencing and the narrative possibilities of non-linear storytelling.In the summer of 2024, he completed a Master’s degree in Photography: Research and Methodology at the University of West Attica (UniWA). He is actively involved in photography education as a tutor at the Hellenic Centre of Photography and at Paper Drop Lab, which he founded, where he leads project development and experimental curation workshops. He also serves as an editor at Velvet Eyes, an online photography magazine.Following a recommendation from the publishing house Void, he was named Future Talent ’24.