Growing slowly, not scared of long draughts nor cold winters, the olive tree is famous for it’s longevity, for its fruits and most of all for the liquid gold we call olive oil. A sea of olive groves! This is what Messinia felt like to me back in November 2021 when we travelled there with journalist Elisa Perrigueur meeting producers, agronomists, oleologists, merchants and workers that were converting the precious fruit into extra virgin olive oil.

Discover the full story in GEO France April 2022 issue.

Part of Under Pressure photographic and journalistic investigation has been printed in the form of a newspaper in 1000 copies with the support of iMEdD and is available free of charge. You can also view the online version here.

64 pages of photographs, archival material and texts bring together information on the legacy of a century of oil extraction in neighbouring Albania and the fragmented efforts to locate and exploit the “black gold” in Greece from the early 20th century to the present day. In a paradoxical reality, in the midst of a climate crisis and energy transition, we look into the past in order to imagine the future of these underdeveloped regions on the south-eastern border of the EU.

Hard copies distribution has been focused to the local communities that are affected by the either the history or the current development of the oil and gas exploration and exploitation both in Albania and Greece.

If you wish to receive a copy by mail, to distribute or to arrange a presentation in your area, please contact me at penelopethomaidi@gmail.com

The printed publication is bilingual (Greek and Albanian) and an English version will be available online soon. Stay tuned!

See and download the newspaper in greek-albanian here.

Contre-Vents documents the struggles of the countercultures of Bretagne and Loire Atlantique, in France, as they were chronicled by moviemakers, photographers and militants since 1968. It traces the intersections between the struggles of farmers and those of workers, as well as questions of identity and ecology and proposes a genealogy between the collective actions of reclaiming farming land in the 1970s and the occupation of the ZAD de Notre-Dame-des-Landes in the 2000s.

In between collective action, history and representation, supported by great design, this book stands on fertile ground. I am honored I had the chance to contribute with some pictures in the chapter about the ZAD de Notre-Dame-des-Landes. 

Published by Paraguay Press & Le Grand Cafe Saint Nazaire in 2021
French, 296 pages, ISBN: 978-2-918252-69-6
Price: 30 € - Buy from the publisher
Direction: Guillame Desanges, François Piron | Coordination: Clement Raveu | Design: Laure Giletti, Eurogroupe | Cover illustration: Emile Seto 

Life Twists is part of Toponthropologies,  a group exhibition, in the context of Thessaloniki Photobiennale 2021,  presenting 17 photography projects that have been hosted at The Provinces online photography platform, which deals with the is the constant redefinition of the term “province” through photographic works that deal with the greek periphery. 

Participants: Erofili Gagani (GR), Theodosis Giannakidis (GR), Petros Kokkolis (GR), Vaggelis Kousioras (GR), Panayiotis Lamprou (GR), Evi Mavroni (GR), Konstantia Mazaraki (GR), Eleni Mouzakiti (GR), Lefteris Paraskevaidis (GR), Christos Rontogiannis (GR), Orestis Seferoglou (GR), Christos Sotiropoulos (GR), John Stratoudakis (GR), Penelope Thomaidi (GR), Soti Tyrologou (GR), Charles Weber (CH), Tasos Zoidis (GR)

Curated by  The Provinces team

06/10-04/12/2021 | EXTENSION UNTIL 22/12/2021

Opening Hours: MO | TU | WE | TH | FR > 10:00-17:00, SA > 13:00-21:00

Venue: National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation of Thessaloniki 

“Athens must become a climate laboratory”, an article by Elisa Perrigueur, at Swiss newspaper 24heures, about the urgency of the Municipality of Athens to create a plan of action against heat waves and climate change. Athens becomes the first city in Europe to have a Chief Heat Officer, Dr. Eleni Myrivili.

I am extremely happy and honoured to participate in the iMEdD Incubator programme that will support the development and production of On Land and Water. Looking forward to the coming months that will be dedicated to developing this project and in learning from the team of fellows and mentors. Many thanks to the selection committee for giving me this opportunity.

iMEdD’s incubator hosts profit and non-profit organisations as well as individuals and teams who wish to create an organisation or implement a specific innovative project in the field of journalism. It aims at embracing the ideas of participants and offering them all the necessary tools, know-how and support to bring their ideas to life. Our ultimate goal is for all teams to interact, building a very creative and innovative group of independent journalists and media professionals. The maximum time of supporting organizations or projects, is 9 months from the date of their selection. Learn more here.

As a result of commitment to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to the long-term vision of a climate-neutral EU by 2050, in the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2019 greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced the termination of operation of all Greece’s lignite power plants by 2028. In fact most of them -representing 80% of today’s installed capacity- will close down by 2023.

Starting from this fact, along with journalist Elisa Perrigueur, we travelled to the northern districts of Kozani, Ptolemaida, Amindeo and Florina in Western Macedonia the energy transition equals to an economic and social transition, as the local economy depends on lignite mining. See the full series. 

Many thanks to Orama Photography Studies for the invitation to the online talk with greek photographer Eleni Mouzakiti. We spent 2 hours in conversation about the different ways to approach the development of a personal photo project, while sharing images and ideas with a big enthusiastic audience! Watch the talk on video in greek.

Honoured to receive a special mention for the portfolio of my ongoing project On Land and Water (working title) in this year’s Annual URBANAUTICA Institute Awards  2020.

Have a look at the winning, shortlisted and mentioned works here.

The International Photography Festival of Belo Horizonte opened today it’s 4th edition exploring the concept RESOLUTIVE IMAGES. Online during 7th-12th of December 2020, the programme includes an exhibition showing the work of 43 artists from 19 different countries, workshops, lectures, film screenings and a photo marathon.

Resolutive images, a concept brought to discussion by the farmer and quilombola leader Antônio Bispo dos Santos, Nego Bispo, from Piauí, Brazil, are those that feature ways of thinking, acting, and correlation to the world. They seek other routes of approach, solutions, and poetic solutions to address problems and conflicts in the domain of micro and macro politics, the understanding of images, the human action in the world and do not serve only as devices for offence, defense, denunciation or regret.

In this context, I am happy and honoured to contribute to the exhibition with the series A Zone to Defend.