Winners: SUGi x NAVA Photography Contest

We are thrilled to announce the winners of the inaugural SUGi x NAVA Photo Contest.

Thank you to everyone who submitted.

We received an overwhelming amount of submissions, so many of which really embodied the contest theme: “Rewild your Eyes. Show us the ways you connect to Nature.”.

The jury certainly had a tough time deciding, but felt that the selected winning images best showed us how to bring nature closer. In the words of one of the jurors: “the winning entries handled the idea of nature and rewilding — how it intrigues, encompases and conquers — but they also asked you to look, and look again.”

Congratulations to the winners!

1st: Dmytro Kupriyan - Ukraine

— Home #2
From series “Home”

In his series, Home, Kupriyan explores the human environment and our innate need for the opposite.  Kupriyan illuminates landscapes and other natural views with projections of buildings or architectural elements on top of them.  The resulting images highlight our man-made creations invading the natural world.

2nd: Elena Aya Bundurakis - Greece

— Touching Glutinous II,
From series "Eating Magma"

Bundurakis examines the very idea of being a living organism in her series “Eating Magma”. Through her work, Bundurakis aims to show that at our core, “we all have our vital senses to help us experience this world in a sensuous, cooperative way, along with other organisms.” Her work highlights the importance of observation, a skill that is becoming easily lost in our increasingly over-stimulating world.

3rd: Lorenzo Maccotta - Italy

— LMA-05

Air collection and treatment pipes are intersected by a thriving green tree in Maccotta’s “LMA-05”. Here, at the Bresso Niguarda depuration plant in Milan, Maccotta captures the convergence of nature and urban structure.

4th: Diewke van den Heuvel - Switzerland

— Stonechild

Van den Heuvel captures a child in Riederalp, Switzerland relaxing in nature in her work “stonechild”.  The village of Riederalp sits at the base of the largest glacier in Europe, which is estimated to disappear in roughly 75 years time due to climate change. Without massive global changes regarding climate change, the children of Riederalp will live to see the glacier—and their drinking water supply—disappear.

5th: Chinmoy Biswas - India

— Beauty over beauty

Biswas, a school teacher professionally, spends his free time with his camera in hand.  His dream is to “​create a world of photography of my own.” In his work “Beauty over beauty”, Biswas captures both the beauty of the caterpillar and the beauty of the mushrooms.

6th: Ana Palacios, Spain

— 01. Wild Love
From project “Animal Sanctuaries”

At Gaia Animal Sanctuary, Palacios captures the quarterly deworming of all the sanctuary birds.  Each bird is treated individually and with care for their specific needs. “Wild love. Animal Sanctuaries” is a photo essay that explores life in animal sanctuaries—and the lives of the committed staff.  Through her photo essay, Palacios aims to show a different relationship between nature and humans; a relationship based on a respect for animals and the planet’s limited resources.

7th: Daniel Hewitt - UK

— National Theatre + Cow Rock”
From series “Geometry + Geology II”

In this photographic collage, Hewitt explores the relationship between Brutalist architecture and rock formations in Northern England.  After moving to London as an adult, Hewitt observed that the Brutalist buildings were reminiscent of the rock formations he grew up with in the Yorkshire Dales.  Hewitt writes, “to me, these sublime monoliths carry with them a sense of melancholy and solitude.”

8th: Margeaux Walter - USA

— Greenery
From series "Don't Be a Square"

In her home studio, Walter simulates natural experiences with staged vignettes that she builds and then places herself into.  Her images reflect both the human desire to connect with nature and the failure to do so.  Created during quarantine, her work contemplates our increased isolation from nature, from each other, and from the larger world.

9th: Axel Schmidt - Germany

— Borago Officinalis
From series “Colors”

Schmidt explores connections between a myriad of aesthetics in his project “Colors”.  His goal is to document vulnerable wild plants and flowers from around the world.  He sees an urgent need for action; these rapidly disappearing plants are extremely important for pollinating insects and animals.  Here, Schmidt shows us “Borago Officinalis” whose pollinators include honeybees, bumblebees, syrphid flies, and native bees.

10th: Amar Habeeb - UAE

— Oasis

In an aerial view of Al Ain, UAE, Habeeb captures a “gem in the middle of desert” in his work “Oasis.”

People's Choice Winner Melissa Kay Cohen - USA

— Orchids

Cohen uses cyanotype printing, one of the oldest types of photography, to create her work “Orchids”.  She gives recycled and found natural elements a new life by incorporating them in her work during the long winter months.  Through her art, she strives to show natural beauty through a different lens.