Angelos Tzortzinis, Greek
Locals left fruit for animals near the village of Kiotari on Rhodes on Wednesday, 2023
Tzortzinis is a documentary photographer based in Athens, Greece who often responds to traumatic events, including war and migrant crises. As one of the first responders to Mati’s catastrophic fires in 2018, Tzortzini said it was the most traumatic assignment of his career. The series contains many photos of people evacuating the dead, charred bodies in the street, and images of the aftermath. This image in particular displays the empathy and deliberate care people still carry with them in the aftermath of intense, personal tragedy. Photographed is the food and water several villagers of Mati had laid out for whatever animals may have escaped the grueling flames. Label by Jordan Hadlock
This photo, as the title suggests, is of fruit left for animals by locals in the Greek village of Kiotari after wildfires swept across the island of Rhodes. Clearly focused in the foreground, apples sit alongside some form of nut or seed and a vessel of water, as well as torn (and/or burnt) scraps of fabric. In the background, out of focus scorched earth stretches to the horizon line, peppered with barren and blackened trees. The contrast between the apples’ vibrant color and thevegetative devastation behind them evokes the resiliency of those living in Kiotari; apples occur in this landscape not thanks to natural abundance, as falling from a tree, but by the locals’ solidarity with animals who are also living in the wake of a disaster not of their making. Label by Lia Deasy