We can fully appreciate the anguished expression crossing the face of this 81-year-old Greek woman, Kritsiopi Panayiota, who stands grief-stricken before a hellish backdrop of forest fires on the verge of consuming her home. As the devastating infernos of California’s wildfires in 2020 continue to haunt recent American memory, Grecians recall the worst fires their country has seen since 2007, which ravaged Evia, Greece’s second largest island, in August 2021.
Tragic yet pertinent, this picture, “Woman from Evia,” garnered Greek photographer Konstantinos Tsakalidis the top title of Photographer of the Year at the Siena International Photo Awards 2022 (SIPA 2022) in October.
Tsakalidis’s arresting portrayal of humanity and nature was selected from tens of thousands of submissions from 140 countries. Accompanying it are the other winners of the competition’s 12 different categories; SIPA 2022’s Creative Photo Awards and Drone Photo Awards; as well as solo exhibitions featuring photographers: Danish Siddiqui (killed on July 16, 2021, while documenting conflict in Afghanistan), Ami Vitale, Dan Winters, and Peter Mather….