SIENA. The Siena Awards 2021 is on its way to the grand finale, with the opportunity to visit the 8 exhibitions set up in Siena and Sovicille until Sunday 5th December. This year’s edition will be remembered for the great names of photographers present, starting with Brent Stirton and Steve Winter, with the largest retrospective ever made on him, but, above all, for the extraordinary international success achieved by the photo ” Hardship of Life ”, overall winner of the SIPA 2021, Siena International Photo Awards. This, together with the high quality of the exhibitions set up in different locations, some of which outdoors and all in compliance with the anti Covid-19 regulations, attracted numerous Italian and foreign visitors to Siena and confirmed the great strength of the imagination and visual arts to look beyond the pandemic, as he explains Luca Venturi, founder and artistic director of the Siena Awards. “The great national and international interest aroused by the winning photo of the SIPA 2021 – says Venturi – positively and emotionally ‘overwhelmed’ the festival and all of us, but it was not the only attraction of the Siena Awards festival, which confirms its winning formula widening the gaze even beyond Siena. An added value comes, in fact, from the two widespread exhibitions set up in the city and in the village of Sovicille. We are very satisfied with these choices and, in particular, with the success that the exhibition in Sovicille is enjoying, with the possibility of discovering the historic center and also the premises of the ‘La Tinaia’ Cultural Center, recently recovered and enhanced by the presence of shots beautiful and evocative like those of Brent Stirton “.

The image “Discomfort of life”, taken by Turkish photographer Mehmet Aslan, is revealed at the entrance to theformer Stellino distillery, at the gates of Siena, together with all the winning shots of the twelve categories of SIPA, Siena International Photographic Award, with the exhibition “Imagine all the people sharing all over the world”. The exhibition natapremi photos and videos born from the imagination and visual art of Pulitzer Prizes, award-winning World Press winners, National Geographic photographers and other big names in international photography, as well as photography enthusiasts such as the author of the photo year. In just a few days, his shot generated a strong emotional wave all over the world and kicked off an extraordinary solidarity contest that resulted in the fundraising “Can a photo make a Difference” launched by Siena Premi to help Munzir, who lost his leg. right during a bombing in Syria, and her son Mustafa, born without the lower and upper limbs as a result of a malformation caused by his mother taking drugs during the war in Syria. Thanks to the first contributions of the fundraising, still open on GoFundMe platform, father and son will soon arrive in Italy to be operated on at the Vigorso di Budrio Prosthesis Center, in the province of Bologna.

The exhibitions in Siena. The Natural History Museum of Siena “Accademia dei Fisiocritici” hosts the retrospective “Big cats” dedicated to the American photojournalist steve winter with powerful and moving images taken around the world for National Geographic to raise awareness on the conservation of big cats: snow leopards, tigers, pumas, jaguars and lions immortalized in their natural habitat. In the same exhibition space it is also possible to see the show “Above us only sky”, with the evocative images taken from the sky and winners of the Photo awards with drone, fourth edition of the only collective exhibition in Italy dedicated to aerial photography.

Piazza Matteotti, Piazza Madre Teresa of Calcutta, Via Pianigiani and La Lizza they also welcome the exhibition “I wonder if you can”, with the winners of the 19 categories of Creative Photo awards, the Siena Awards international competition dedicated to artistic and creative photography, while theArea Camollia Green 85 hosts the exhibition “Looking beyond” with the works of Peyman Naderi, Iranian portrait art photographer and specialized in the manipulation of lights, shadows for a new genre of Dark Portrait Photography. Over 100 shops and shops in the historic Y of the historic center of Siena, in via Banchi di Sopra, via Banchi di Sotto and via di Città, are instead involved in the widespread exhibition “Open – Let’s open the door to the world” and they are hosting in their spaces the images of the exhibition “Imagine All The People Sharing All the World” of the Siena Awards 2020, which closed prematurely due to the lockdown. The exhibition is promoted and organized by the Municipality of Siena in collaboration with the Siena Awards.

Finally, two the exhibitions of the Siena Awards 2021 in Sovicille. The “La Tinaia” Cultural Center hosts the monographic exhibition of Brent Stirton, South African icon of multi-award winning photojournalism for his reports on major international newspapers, also awarded as “Best Author” at SIPA 2021, Siena International Photo Awards and known for his images dedicated to the barbarism of poachers on large animals in Africa, Asia and South America. In the historical center of Sovicilleit is also possible to visit the widespread exhibition “Animals. The world of imagination has no cages! ” which has transformed the town into an ‘imaginary zoological park’ with over 40 animals from all over the world “freed” from the art of photography and facing the walls, windows and doors of the buildings. The exhibition is promoted and organized by the Municipality of Sovicille in collaboration with Siena Awards.

Info and social Siena Awards. The Siena Awards 2021 exhibitions are open today, Friday 3 December, from 15 to 19, while tomorrow, Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th December it will be possible to visit them from 10 to 19. The Siena Awards festival is issued by the cultural association Art Photo Travel with the Municipality of Siena, under the patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Culture, University of Siena, the Region of Tuscany and the Chamber of Commerce. of Siena and Arezzo. The Main Partners of the event are Banca Mediolanum, Etruria Retail, Carrefour Market, Lumix, Siena Ambiente and the chain of specialized photo / video stores “Il Fotoamatore”. The technical partner is Rete Ivo, Fast Internet Everywhere. For more information, you can consult the site www.festival.sienawards.com and follow the social channels on Facebook, sienawards; Instagram, @sienawards; chirping, Siena Awards and YouTube Siena Awards.