Down and out in Athens
Marialena, a 42-year-old homeless former drug addict who suffers from AIDS, sleeps underneath a bridge in a run-down neighbourhood of central Athens.
Her predicament is extreme, but it is not unique. Since the debt crisis erupted in 2009, hundreds of thousands of Greeks have lost their jobs and an increasing number of people in the country are now finding themselves living on the margins of society and sleeping on the street.
Andy, a 53-year-old German immigrant who became homeless after losing his job six years ago, sits by his makeshift home in a deserted harbour storage building in the port of Piraeus.
Boris Potev, a 56-year-old Bulgarian immigrant, lies on a mattress amongst piles of garbage in an Athens suburb.
Maximos, a 43-year-old Ethiopian immigrant who lost his job in 2010, stands by the makeshift tent where he lives in a park in central Athens.
A Greek Orthodox monk walks past two homeless men sleeping outside a hospital.
Michael, a former hotel clerk who is now unemployed and homeless, begs outside a church in central Athens.
Food lies behind the cracked windshield of an abandoned vehicle, where a homeless man lives underneath an Athens bridge.
Adrian, a 51-year-old from Romania, extracts copper from a cable. After having worked in Greece for over a decade, Adrian lost his job in 2011 when the lorry company that employed him closed down. He now lives in an abandoned warehouse and survives by collecting scrap.
Marialena, 42, drinks coffee as she sits next to her boyfriend Dimitrios, 51, who was a dancer in a famous Greek folk troupe until he lost his job three years ago and became homeless.
Dimitrios watches as Marialena, a former drug addict who is now on a methadone rehabilitation program, puts on her make-up.
Marialena pushes Dimitrios away as he tries to clean up wounds she inflicted on herself.
Vassilis, a 35-year-old who has spent time in mental institutions on several occasions, sits in the afternoon sun under the bridge where he has lived for the last year and a half.
Giorgos, 50, sits with his belongings under the bridge where he lives with a group of other homeless people. Giorgos was forced to close down the billiard hall he owned in 2006, and spent time in prison for not paying his social security debts.
Yiorgos, a 40-year-old who became homeless in 2010 after his grocery shop went out of business, sits on the street.
A group of people line up to receive food outside Klimaka, a charity that works with the homeless.
A man waits for food outside Klimaka.
Adrian, 51, sits with his head in his hands in an abandoned warehouse where he lives in a central Athens vegetable market.
A homeless scrap collector sleeps outdoors in a cardboard box.
Clothes hang on a washing line in an abandoned warehouse in a central Athens vegetable market.
Costas, 63, and Rodoula, 28, who have been unemployed for over five years, watch television in an abandoned building.
Tareq, a 46-year-old unemployed painter, sits in the shed where he lives in an abandoned factory. Tareq is a Syrian refugee who lived in Greece during the 1990s. He returned to Syria, but fled back to Greece in 2012 to escape the violence in his homeland.
Alexandros, a 42-year-old from Serres in northern Greece, sits inside the abandoned car where he lives in the port of Piareus. Alexandros owned a plant shop in Athens until 2010, when it was forced to close. He became homeless soon after.
Stephanos, 42, washes his face before setting off to look for a job in Athens. Stephanos became homeless in late 2012 when the clothes shop where he had worked for over a decade closed down and he had no income to pay for his flat. He now lives next to a church in central Athens and eats in soup kitchens.
Stephanos is reflected in a mirror as he combs his hair before setting off to look for a job.
