«Dear Luca, I enjoyed this experience more than I could have imagined». The message arrives on the phone of Luca Venturi, creator and soul of the Siena Awards. He sends Dan Winters, an icon of international photography, as he leaves Siena where he participated in the inauguration ceremony, recalled for a job at NASA. “I’m sorry that this experience is over: the beauty of the city is matched only by the beauty and passion of the people I met here,” he adds.
Venturi shows the message without hiding his pride: «These lines, written by one of the greats in the history of photography, are the best testimony of the values of the Siena Awards project». Dan Winters, in fact, is almost a monument: with one foot in the history of art and the other firm in his time, he has created many of the most popular portraits of celebrities of the last 15 years, including the image of Angelina Jolie which summarizes this edition of the festival and which won the «Fascinating Faces and Characters» section. Taken for the National Geographicportrays the actress covered by bees: attracted with the queen bee pheromone which covered her body, they never stung her during the 18 minutes she remained motionless and which were used to give shape to her awareness campaign for the protection of this insect fundamental for the ecosystem.
But the words of thanks and love that Winters expresses for the Siena Awards and for the city are in good company. Another message on Venturi’s phone: «You have really organized a wonderful event: the best photographic awards in the world without a doubt. The excellent work continues and continues to promote photography; we hope to return soon ». Signed Ian MacNicol, award-winning British sports photographer from the GettyImages stable.
Once again, therefore, the festival makes Siena one of the world capitals of photography: the spotlight on the awards ceremony, which was attended by photographers and professionals from 51 countries, will remain open until November 20 the exhibitions that animate the territory will remain open . Eight in total, set up in locations full of charm and often little traveled, from the Natural History Museum of the Fisiocritici to the Accademia del Rozzi, from the Chigiana to the former Stellino distilleries, an industrial space converted to host the Siena Awards.
As it does from the beginning, in fact, the festival mixes two different souls: on the one hand the three international awards – the original, the one dedicated to artistic photography and the only one in the world completely dedicated to aerial photography taken with drones – with the best shots that converge in collective exhibitions; on the other, the monographic exhibitions that each year focus on some of the most interesting international gazes. This time, for example, there is the photographer of National Geographic Ami Vitale which tells the story of African species in danger of extinction, including giraffes, white rhinos and an orphanage for elephants in Kenya; there is Peter Mather with his red foxes and bears portrayed in the Canadian urban context, during the pandemic; there are the latest works by Danish Siddiqui, an Indian photographer who won a Pulitzer Prize and was killed last year in Afghanistan while documenting the fighting with the Taliban. And there is, in fact, Dan Winters: his Portraits are exhibited at the Tinaia cultural center in Sovicille, while the rest of the village a few kilometers from Siena is populated by other characters in the widespread exhibition Face to Facewith common faces from all over the world that act as an antechamber for celebrities looking out from buffered windows and internal courtyards.
«Sovicille’s project recalls that of last year – says Venturi – and works with the idea of showing photography to anyone, even those who are not interested in exhibitions but come across it while walking. But above all, the relationship with the territory, the collaboration with the institutions and the choral participation work: the real innovative element would be to be able to involve the whole province. We are already working with Monteriggioni, with Chiusdino to bring an event to San Galgano: in short, we would like to be able to ensure that the project can live all year round and people feel so at home that they come back ».
Many photographers already feel at home and mark the Siena Awards as an appointment not to be missed. “Dan Winters has already told me that next year he will want to come back to see the Palio – says Venturi – while Randy Olson and Melissa Farlow have come to Siena for the third time only to attend the award ceremony: it means that we are something good. doing, which we continue to excite ».
The emotion was certainly there for the Greek photographer Konstantinos Tsakalidis, absolute winner of the Siena International Photo Awards 2022 with the shot Woman from Evia. In this image – chosen from tens of thousands of shots sent from 140 countries – there is all the desperation of those who see their life literally go up in smoke: they seem to hear the cry of this woman, helpless in the face of the flames that are about to envelop his home during the terrible fires that hit Greece in the summer of 2021.
«The winning photo – explains Venturi – comes from the photojournalism section as it was last year for Hardship of life, the shot by Mehmet Aslan that portrayed Mustafa and Munzir, the father playing with his son born without arms and legs. That shot, thanks to the international echo and the crowdfunding campaign that followed, allowed the family to arrive in Italy, passing from Siena to Budrio, an avant-garde medical center specialized in prostheses: today they are happily living their Italian experience and their story proves that a photograph can really make a difference. Who knows what will happen next year: we hope to rediscover, in addition to the power of a shot, also the joy ».
© Time.News
14 October 2022 | 09:59
© Time.News