Siena Awards Festival describes itself “a festival to savour slowly, strolling through the alleys, squares and historic sites of Siena’s city centre.” The prize is an independent project that brings together international photographers, amateurs, emerging talents and lens-based enthusiasts. The award traverses categories including sports, street photography, the beauty of nature, animals and underwater life, as well as awarding an overall winner. It’s accompanied by a month-long photo festival, which spotlights those shortlisted as well as established artists and photographers. Today, we spotlight five exhibitions from this year’s festival.
Cinzia Canneri: Women’s Bodies as Battlefields
Accademia dei Rozzi
Throughout history, the female body has acted as a battleground and in war, sexual violence is a strategy of domination, humiliation and control. The project Women’s Bodies as Battlefields, by photojournalist Cinzia Canneri was created to shed light on this lived reality through the stories of Eritrean and Tigrayan women who have crossed or lived in territories marked by one of the most dramatic conflicts of recent years: the war in Tigray, in northern Ethiopia. The series began in 2017, following the artist’s encounter with the Eritrean diaspora in Italy and developed in the following years in refugee camps and border region across the Horn of Africa. Canneri presents images in black and white, avoiding an sensationalising of suffering and instead focusing on the humanity of the people she portrays.
Siena International Photo Awards: People Sharing All the World
Via Fiorentina, 95
At the heart of the festival is the Siena International Photo Award exhibition, which celebrates the most talented artists from around the world. Established in 2015, the prize stands out as one of the most prestigious photographic competitions in the world, with an annual participation from more than 150 countries. Some of the awarded images of past editions have become iconic, others have established new trends, demonstrating the power of images to transcend cultural and linguistic differences. In this edition, Photo of the Year goes to Stefano Rosselli, for Amina. The image shows an Afghan girl, looking at the camera from behind a door. The jury described how the shot “perfectly embodies the conditions of Afghan women…her eyes struggling to glimpse a future that, for now, remains steeped in darkness.”
James Nachtwey: Witness to Our Time
Centro Culturale “La Tinaia”
For more than four decades, James Nachtwey has worked in some of the most fragile and violent regions of the world, documenting armed conflicts, humanitarian crises, famine, epidemics and environmental disasters. This exhibition retraces some of the most significant chapters of this long career, from the conflicts in the Balkans and the genocide in Rwanda to the long-term consequences of Agent Orange in Vietnam and the photographs taken in New York after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre. Nachtwey has engaged with some of the most harrowing and devastating moments in living memory, and yet throughout the show, scenes of destruction and loss alternate with moments of humanity and solidarity. Here, his photography acts as a broader reflection on the vulnerability of human life.
SIPA Storytelling
Photojournalists and reporters turn their lens on the world, documenting issues, events and communities who may otherwise go overlooked. Their images speak truth to power, help turn the tide of public opinion and advocate for justice. It can take a single shot to entirely change international conversations. The camera is a powerful tool. At Siena International Photo Awards, there’s an exhibition entirely dedicated to storytelling, featuring the reportages awarded at this year’s edition. As the jury explains: “Intense and sometimes crude experiences illustrate the photographic thought and activity of photojournalists from all over the world.” The exhibition acts as an important documentation that allows the visitor to relive major moments, historic events and circumstances that have shaped the face of contemporary society.
I Wonder If You Can
Artistic High School “Duccio di Buoninsegna”
I Wonder if You Can features the work of contemporary photographers who illuminate the grace and beauty of their environment, revealing hidden truths of the world us and pushing the limits of the medium. The artists use innovative approaches to subject the viewers expectation, considering how the camera can be used in new ways for our contemporary moment. The exhibition explores the hidden wonders of the world: multilayered imagery to illuminate the experience of travelling, bold colours and blurred images to create dream-like snapshots. In Ali Zolghadri’s minimalist still lifes, playing fields, trees and coastlines form geometric, sculptural scenes. The artist’s inclusion at Siena Photo Festival is the latest in more than 150 international photography awards and festival, with his work features in Paris, New York and Budapest.
Siena International Photo Awards Festival 2026 runs until 29 November: sienawards.com
Words: Emma Jacob
Image Credits:
1. James Nachtwey, Kabul, Afghanistan 1996.
2. Cinzia Canneri, Road to Reunification
3. Silvia Alessi, Nargis.
4. James Nachtwey, Kabul, Afghanistan 1996.
5. Alessandro Bergamini, Behind the Veil.
6. Ali Zolghadri, Confrontation.
