What I Take Home from the Siena Creative Awards 2026

Siena, 10th October 2026

On photography, encounters, and the value of sharing experiences.

My series BKK has been awarded a Commended Award in the Series category at the Siena Creative Awards 2026, which I received on Saturday 10 October at the Teatro dei Rinnovati in Siena. I am grateful for this recognition, which gives me another opportunity to share a project that is part of my ongoing photographic exploration, The Shape of Memories.

BKK is the series in which my work turned towards people, in which I began making portraits as a deliberate act. Every image is built around someone I met on the street, with the city layered around them. Seeing it recognised in Siena, so far from where it was made, was a moment of real gratitude.

But when I think back on my experience in Siena, the award is only one part of the story.

I was invited as a guest of honour to the opening events, the ceremony and the gala evening. The festival was incredibly well organised and looked after us throughout: the talks, the ceremony, the gala dinner. These moments offered the chance to talk not only about photographs, projects and professional choices, but also about the experiences behind them. Different careers, different ways of approaching the medium, different ideas about what it means to work as a photographer today.

I experienced something similar at Xposure 2026 in Sharjah. Both festivals reminded me that an event of this kind can offer much more than visibility or recognition. It can create the conditions for encounters that would probably never happen otherwise.

I am thankful to the team for this hospitality, and I congratulate all the photographers whose work I had the pleasure of discovering.

I return home with a Commended Award for BKK, but also with conversations, impressions and new connections that will remain with me beyond the event itself.

Recognition matters. It can encourage us to continue developing our work and help bring it to the attention of a wider audience.
But the experience of sharing time with other photographers offers something different: the possibility of seeing our own practice from another perspective.

And sometimes, that is what makes a festival truly memorable.

Siena Creative Awards 2026 Winners
The Shape of Memories | Bangkok — A Kinetic Memory