PICTORIAL STORY ARE THOSE WINDS Along Istanbul’s northern edge, Ci Demi photographs the last water buffalo herders as they keep working, remembering, and staying put while the city closes in. May 24, 2026 PICTORIAL STORY PHOTOGRAPHY Ci Demi STORY Ci Demi and Melanie Meggs SHARE Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link Ci Demi did not arrive at photography through a formal route. Born in Istanbul in 1986, he studied Italian Literature at Istanbul University and came to photography at twenty-eight. The shift began during the Gezi Park uprising in 2013, when he found himself using his phone not casually, but with purpose. “I found myself not chanting slogans but photographing everything using my phone; it was instinctual,” he recalls. “Right then and there, I decided I wasn’t meant to be an escapist writer but a witness.” That distinction between escape and witness continues to shape his practice. Istanbul appears as a system of pressure, memory, disappearance, and response. His photographs ask what remains, what is being removed, and what forms of life continue under conditions of urban expansion. Although photography entered his life after literature, his earlier training remains present. “I have always been a storyteller in some form or another,” he says. “My literature background helped me write the stories first, then continue collecting images for them. While my work isn’t staged, I would say it’s constructed much like a novel.” This sense of construction is central to his method. His photographs accumulate through walking, returning, observing, and waiting until a structure begins to emerge. Demi’s debut photobook, Şehir Fikri (Notion of a City), published by Onagöre in 2022, presented Istanbul through absence. Inspired by Georges Perec’s La Disparition (A Void, 1969), the book removed people, animals, and language from the city. What remained was not emptiness, but a study of urban presence without human anchoring. In that work, Istanbul becomes a field of withheld information: seen but not explained. His ongoing project Are Those Winds marks a shift. Here, the human figure returns. Animals enter the frame. Labor becomes visible. The series documents the owners and herders of Istanbul’s last remaining water buffaloes in the city’s northern outskirts. First commissioned by Climavore x Jameel at RCA, the portraits were exhibited and used in campaigns for the September 2025 Water Buffalo Festival, or Manda Festivali. Demi has since developed the project independently, with the organization’s permission, expanding it from portraiture into a wider study of landscape, livelihood, and displacement. The work began before it had a fixed form. Demi first visited Istanbul’s northern outskirts in 2017, where he encountered a herd of water buffaloes walking along the road. At the time, the third bridge connecting Asia to Europe had recently been completed, despite public opposition. For Demi, this moment signaled a larger transformation. “There was certainly a story there,” he says. “That started the relentless expansion of the city. My ‘instinct’ was to document what was going on.” For years, he returned and made images without a resolved framework. The commission gave him access and clarified the stakes. “It was an incredible opportunity to embed myself in the landscape,” he explains. “My brief was to make portraits, for the most part, but during our visits to the north, I kept looking around, collecting bits and pieces of the landscape. The change was rapid and ruthless. I saw a complete erasure.” The communities Demi photographs practice mandacılık , the traditional rearing of water buffaloes. They produce milk, kaymak , and buffalo milk ice cream. These practices are not presented as folklore. They are forms of labour, economy, inheritance, and spatial knowledge. They hold a relationship between people, animals, wetlands, and land use that is increasingly incompatible with the city’s current direction. Mining pits, shopping malls, metro extensions, and development triggered by the new Istanbul Airport now press against these agricultural zones. Villages once positioned at the city’s edge have become contested terrain. Demi’s portraits place the herders beside the animals they care for. This is not simply a compositional decision. It is the conceptual center of the work. The photographs insist on interdependence. “The water buffaloes act much like distrusting stray cats,” he says. “They are very skittish, they just observe you, and in the end, they run away. You have to have a bond with them to get closer.” For Demi, the portraits become evidence of trust. “The pictures are about invisible things: visually, there is affection. Yes, I can safely say that those photographs document mutual affection. You see, their lives depend on each other, especially in the wake of this ongoing ecological disaster.” This attention to affection prevents the project from becoming only an account of loss. The political context remains unavoidable, but Demi does not reduce the herders or animals to symbols. He photographs them as participants in a way of life continuing under threat. The work is therefore less about nostalgia than dependency: between human and animal, wetland and livelihood, memory and survival. The title has also changed. The project was previously called Erasure, a title that named the violence directly. “One single command from a certain someone is enough to completely erase history,” Demi says. “Erasure came from that simple fact that we’ve had to accept. It was direct and, at the time, I thought the story needed a one-word title to shoulder the impact.” Yet as the work developed, the title began to feel too broad. Against the current political climate and the scale of violence across the region, Demi felt the word could no longer hold the specificity of this story. “My story was only a small part of what’s wrong,” he says. “I had to make it more personal.” Are Those Winds shifts the project away from declaration and toward uncertainty. The title is a question without a question mark. It refers to forces that cannot be fully seen but are felt through their effects. “It is plural because there are many intertwining variables that we cannot possibly see,” Demi explains. “We only feel the strong winds of the north.” This reframing matters. Erasure names the outcome. Are Those Winds attends to atmosphere, pressure, and perception. It allows the work to remain political while becoming more intimate in its address. Demi’s relationship to Istanbul is central here. He describes his work through psychogeography, a term he encountered when another writer used it in relation to his photographs. He adopted it because it described how he understands the city: “To me, it’s how people and I interact with the city, and how the city responds to us; which, in many ways, it does.” His practice begins with curiosity. He follows the story first, then the images emerge through walking over days, weeks, or months. “There is certainly a language to my pictures,” he says, “but how it comes to be is a complete mystery even to me.” Demi does not present himself as an external observer of Istanbul. He is connected to the city he photographs. “I would say I’m a documentary photographer who works mostly on the streets but, at the same time, points his camera at himself,” he says. “To my eyes, my presence, whilst being completely absent visually, is very apparent in my work.” In Are Those Winds , that absence is not withdrawal. It is position. The photographer is not pictured, but his relation to place structures the work. The urgency of the project is practical as much as conceptual. The land is changing quickly. Access narrows. Sites close. Construction zones appear where open space once existed. “The place gets smaller and smaller with each visit,” Demi says. “The spaces you can access get more limited by the day.” Once a construction site is established, entry often becomes impossible. “The security guards are often very aggressive,” he notes. “They act secretive because, deep down, every sensible person knows that what has been going on is ‘wrong.’ They are doing something wrong; this fact hangs in the air at all times.” Time, in this project, is not a neutral condition. It determines what can still be photographed. “Everything we see there today won’t be there as soon as tomorrow,” Demi says. “I had to accept this, which isn’t exactly the easiest thing.” This produces pressure throughout the series. The work is being made inside transformation, while the ground of the story continues to shift. “I feel a constant urgency,” he says. “A panic, even.” Yet Demi is careful about the limits of photography. He does not overstate the power of the image to intervene. In relation to ecological justice and land use, he sees a gap between opposition and mobilization. Many people in Istanbul, including those close to him, only learned of the water buffaloes and the history of herding through this project. “The tradition will be erased, and we will have been mere helpless witnesses,” he says. “Will what I’ve been trying to show help? ‘At least there will be documents,’ I keep telling myself.” This sentence carries the burden of the work. Documentation becomes both insufficient and necessary. It may not halt development. It may not protect the wetlands. It may not secure the future of the herders or their animals. But it refuses the silence that often follows disappearance. It establishes a record where official narratives produce omission. As Are Those Winds continues, Demi’s attention is expanding. The first stage centered on portraits of water buffaloes and herders, shaped by the original brief. Now, he feels compelled to construct a broader portrait of place. “The landscape is ever-changing, and I’m currently focusing my efforts on documenting as much as possible,” he says. “The water buffalo and human portraits came first, but I feel the need to make a thorough portrait of the place, too.” The project’s future is tied to uncertainty. Demi is not working toward a predetermined narrative arc. Unlike his other personal projects, which he describes as being structured like novels, this work depends on unfolding history. “I’m looking for an ending, and a curiosity about whether I’ll be there to witness it,” he says. “This story hasn’t developed like my other personal stories did: I can’t shoot a novel with this, as it depends upon unfolding history. It’s purely documentarian, in that sense.” What remains unresolved is whether the communities he photographs can continue within fragments of land left behind by development. Demi does not pretend optimism. “I keep thinking about how long the herders and animals will be able to resist,” he says. “Can they exist in small pockets of land that the ‘powers’ will leave them with?” His final question is the one the work turns back toward its audience: “Will people even care?” © Ci Demi © Ci Demi © Ci Demi © Ci Demi © Ci Demi © Ci Demi © Ci Demi © Ci Demi © Ci Demi © Ci Demi © Ci Demi Are Those Winds does not answer that question. It holds it open. Through portrait, landscape, colour, and return, Ci Demi constructs a record of a city remaking itself through loss. The work asks what it means to witness when the outcome may already be underway. It asks what photography can do when it cannot stop the forces it names. Most importantly, it refuses to let disappearance occur without being seen. view Ci Demi's portfolio website >>> instagram >>> The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author/s and are not necessarily shared by The Pictorial List. read more stories >>> ARE THOSE WINDS Along Istanbul’s northern edge, Ci Demi photographs the last water buffalo herders as they keep working, remembering, and staying put while the city closes in. COLORS OF HÜZÜN Through fragments and gestures, Pedro Vidal traces Istanbul as shared melancholy lingers in everyday life, the city unfolding slowly and refusing to settle into a single, definitive understanding. OUT OF PLAY An exploration of abandoned interiors in which Marco Lugli examines how objects, light, and space carry memory beyond human presence, establishing absence as a condition of material continuity rather than loss. REIMAGINING TALIESIN Form gives way to flux in Amy Newton-McConnel’s photographs, where architecture unfolds as a field of shifting relations and perception moves with light, geometry, and time. WHERE THE MUSIC BEGINS Before the strings, Jeevan Akash Jayavarthanan leaves the movement of the street for the rhythm of the workshop, where time holds, hands work, and each moment forms what will later be heard. LAND, LABOR, AND THE GOLDEN FIBER In West Bengal’s jute fields, Rajesh Dhar examines the systems of land and labor, tracing how a single material sustains communities and informs a changing ecological future. WITH GRATITUDE AND DEVOTION A quiet and intimate account of devotion in Zaraza, Venezuela, Rafael Ayala Páez reflects on faith, memory, and community through photographs and words that honor the enduring power of small gestures. SILVER AND BREATH Within this fragile space between looking and being seen, Eva Christina Nielsen has developed a practice that is both restrained and deeply attentive. RUPTURE REPAIR REMNANT In this reflection on rupture, Donna Bassin invites us to consider how grief settles into the body and the image, and how the slow work of witnessing becomes a form of repair. DELTA DUSK John Agather weaves image and text into a single current, tracing how music, memory, and daily life continue to move through the Mississippi Delta. SILENT BEAUTY Tamara Quadrelli photographs the world by slowing down inside it. There is no rush to explain what we are seeing. The pleasure comes from staying with it. SOLITUDE UNDER A TECHNIFIED SUN Tracing the space between movement and stillness, Héctor Morón reveals a city that persists as human presence slips by. 4320 MINUTES WITHOUT COLOR Moving between photography and narration, Mohammed Nahi traces a period in which sight could no longer be assumed as reliable, and attention shifted toward memory and duration. THE PAINTED VILLAGE OF LABANDHAR Anjan Ghosh’s photographs carry us to Labandhar, where painting becomes language, tradition stays present, and art grows through shared ground. ORDINARY GRIEF What endures when everything else is uncertain? Through photography, Parisa Azadi asks us to see Iran not as story, but as feeling. THE EVERYMAN Eva Mallis uncovers the quiet strength of overlooked lives, capturing everyday encounters in Mumbai’s industrial districts as intimate portraits of labor and resilience. IN BETWEEN LIFE AND AFTER In Cairo’s City of the Dead, families carve out ordinary lives among centuries of tombs — Paola Ferrarotti traces the fragile line between memory and survival. UNFIGURED Nasos Karabelas transforms the human body into a site of emotional flux — where perception fractures and inner states become visible form. VISIONS OF ICELAND FROM ABOVE Massimo Lupidi takes flight above Iceland — capturing nature’s abstract brushstrokes where land, water, and sky blur into poetic visions beyond the ordinary eye. UNDER THE CLOUDS Giordano Simoncini presents a visual ethnography of the interconnectedness of indigenous cosmology, material life, and the ecological balance within the Quechua communities of the Peruvian Andes. NYC SUBWAY RIDERS BEFORE THE INVASION OF SMARTPHONES Hiroyuki Ito’s subway photographs reveal a vanished intimacy — strangers lost in thought in a world before digital distractions took hold. THE GHOST SELF Buku Sarkar stages her refusal to vanish. Her photographs are unflinching, lyrical acts of documentation, mapping a body in flux and a mind grappling with the epistemic dissonance of chronic illness. WHISPERS On Mother’s Day, Regina Melo's story asks us to pause. To remember. To feel. It honors the profound, often quiet sacrifices that mothers make, and the invisible threads that bind us to them. BEYOND THE MASK By stepping beyond the scripted world of professional wrestling and into the raw terrain of mental health, Matteo Bergami and Fabio Giarratano challenge long-held myths about masculinity, endurance, and heroism. FRAGMENTS OF TIME Each of jfk's diptychs functions as a microcosm of the city, allowing viewers to experience urban life as constant fragmented glimpses, mirroring the unpredictable nature of human interactions.

CI DEMI My path to this medium wasn’t traditional; I studied Italian Literature at Istanbul University and only discovered photography at the age of 28. That background continues to shape how I construct images. I approach photography through story, structure, absence, and return, allowing each project to develop through observation rather than staging. My personal work explores the psychogeography of Istanbul. I am interested in how the city holds memory, pressure, transformation, and loss, and how intimate experience becomes embedded within the landscape. Working through a documentarian approach, I use unstaged images, colour, and quiet tension to examine the relationship between place and lived experience. In 2022, Onagöre published my debut photobook, Şehir Fikri (Notion of a City), an eerie portrayal of Istanbul marked by the absence of people, animals, and language. Inspired by Georges Perec’s La Disparition (A Void, 1969), the book considers the city through what is withheld. My photographs have been featured in Foam Magazine and the British Journal of Photography, and exhibited at Les Rencontres d’Arles, Pera Museum, and Mudec. Alongside my personal projects, I work as a documentary photographer, with work published in The New York Times, Financial Times, and Der Spiegel. LOCATION Istanbul TÜRKIYE CAMERA/S Fujifilm X-M5 WEBSITE https://cidemi.fyi/ @CI_DEMI FEATURES // Are Those Winds

Presenting the work of visual storytellers from around the world. ARE THOSE WINDS Along Istanbul’s northern edge, Ci Demi photographs the last water buffalo herders as they keep working, remembering, and staying put while the city closes in. PICTORIAL STORY ARE THOSE WINDS Along Istanbul’s northern edge, Ci Demi photographs the last water buffalo herders as they keep working, remembering, and staying put while the city closes in. PICTORIAL STORY COLORS OF HÜZÜN Through fragments and gestures, Pedro Vidal traces Istanbul as shared melancholy lingers in everyday life, the city unfolding slowly and refusing to settle into a single, definitive understanding. PICTORIAL STORY OUT OF PLAY An exploration of abandoned interiors in which Marco Lugli examines how objects, light, and space carry memory beyond human presence, establishing absence as a condition of material continuity rather than loss. PICTORIAL STORY REIMAGINING TALIESIN Form gives way to flux in Amy Newton-McConnel’s photographs, where architecture unfolds as a field of shifting relations and perception moves with light, geometry, and time. PICTORIAL STORY WHERE THE MUSIC BEGINS Before the strings, Jeevan Akash Jayavarthanan leaves the movement of the street for the rhythm of the workshop, where time holds, hands work, and each moment forms what will later be heard. PICTORIAL STORY LAND, LABOR, AND THE GOLDEN FIBER In West Bengal’s jute fields, Rajesh Dhar examines the systems of land and labor, tracing how a single material sustains communities and informs a changing ecological future. PICTORIAL STORY WITH GRATITUDE AND DEVOTION A quiet and intimate account of devotion in Zaraza, Venezuela, Rafael Ayala Páez reflects on faith, memory, and community through photographs and words that honor the enduring power of small gestures. PICTORIAL STORY SILVER AND BREATH Within this fragile space between looking and being seen, Eva Christina Nielsen has developed a practice that is both restrained and deeply attentive. PICTORIAL STORY RUPTURE REPAIR REMNANT In this reflection on rupture, Donna Bassin invites us to consider how grief settles into the body and the image, and how the slow work of witnessing becomes a form of repair. PICTORIAL STORY DELTA DUSK John Agather weaves image and text into a single current, tracing how music, memory, and daily life continue to move through the Mississippi Delta. PICTORIAL STORY SILENT BEAUTY Tamara Quadrelli photographs the world by slowing down inside it. There is no rush to explain what we are seeing. The pleasure comes from staying with it. PICTORIAL STORY SOLITUDE UNDER A TECHNIFIED SUN Tracing the space between movement and stillness, Héctor Morón reveals a city that persists as human presence slips by. PICTORIAL STORY 4320 MINUTES WITHOUT COLOR Moving between photography and narration, Mohammed Nahi traces a period in which sight could no longer be assumed as reliable, and attention shifted toward memory and duration. PICTORIAL STORY THE PAINTED VILLAGE OF LABANDHAR Anjan Ghosh’s photographs carry us to Labandhar, where painting becomes language, tradition stays present, and art grows through shared ground. PICTORIAL STORY ORDINARY GRIEF What endures when everything else is uncertain? Through photography, Parisa Azadi asks us to see Iran not as story, but as feeling. PICTORIAL STORY THE EVERYMAN Eva Mallis uncovers the quiet strength of overlooked lives, capturing everyday encounters in Mumbai’s industrial districts as intimate portraits of labor and resilience. PICTORIAL STORY IN BETWEEN LIFE AND AFTER In Cairo’s City of the Dead, families carve out ordinary lives among centuries of tombs — Paola Ferrarotti traces the fragile line between memory and survival. PICTORIAL STORY UNFIGURED Nasos Karabelas transforms the human body into a site of emotional flux — where perception fractures and inner states become visible form. PICTORIAL STORY VISIONS OF ICELAND FROM ABOVE Massimo Lupidi takes flight above Iceland — capturing nature’s abstract brushstrokes where land, water, and sky blur into poetic visions beyond the ordinary eye. PICTORIAL STORY UNDER THE CLOUDS Giordano Simoncini presents a visual ethnography of the interconnectedness of indigenous cosmology, material life, and the ecological balance within the Quechua communities of the Peruvian Andes. PICTORIAL STORY NYC SUBWAY RIDERS BEFORE THE INVASION OF SMARTPHONES Hiroyuki Ito’s subway photographs reveal a vanished intimacy — strangers lost in thought in a world before digital distractions took hold. PICTORIAL STORY THE GHOST SELF Buku Sarkar stages her refusal to vanish. Her photographs are unflinching, lyrical acts of documentation, mapping a body in flux and a mind grappling with the epistemic dissonance of chronic illness. PICTORIAL STORY WHISPERS On Mother’s Day, Regina Melo's story asks us to pause. To remember. To feel. It honors the profound, often quiet sacrifices that mothers make, and the invisible threads that bind us to them. PICTORIAL STORY BEYOND THE MASK By stepping beyond the scripted world of professional wrestling and into the raw terrain of mental health, Matteo Bergami and Fabio Giarratano challenge long-held myths about masculinity, endurance, and heroism. PICTORIAL STORY FRAGMENTS OF TIME Each of jfk's diptychs functions as a microcosm of the city, allowing viewers to experience urban life as constant fragmented glimpses, mirroring the unpredictable nature of human interactions.

The Pictorial List is a global online magazine exploring the beauty and complexity of all things photography. CODE GIRL ART EXHIBITION May 30 to July 26 This exhibition positions GIRL as structure, as manifesto, and as blueprint. It moves beyond representation, unfolding as a system that shapes how work comes into being, finds its place, and is experienced. ARE THOSE WINDS Along Istanbul’s northern edge, Ci Demi photographs the last water buffalo herders as they keep working, remembering, and staying put while the city closes in. Latest features PICTORIAL STORY OUT OF PLAY An exploration of abandoned interiors in which Marco Lugli examines how objects, light, and space carry memory beyond human presence, establishing absence as a condition of material continuity rather than loss. PICTORIAL STORY REIMAGINING TALIESIN Form gives way to flux in Amy Newton-McConnel’s photographs, where architecture unfolds as a field of shifting relations and perception moves with light, geometry, and time. PICTORIAL STORY WHERE THE MUSIC BEGINS Before the strings, Jeevan Akash Jayavarthanan leaves the movement of the street for the rhythm of the workshop, where time holds, hands work, and each moment forms what will later be heard. PICTORIAL STORY LAND, LABOR AND THE GOLDEN FIBER In West Bengal’s jute fields, Rajesh Dhar examines the systems of land and labor, tracing how a single material sustains communities and informs a changing ecological future. PICTORIAL STORY WITH GRATITUDE AND DEVOTION A quiet and intimate account of devotion in Zaraza, Venezuela, Rafael Ayala Páez reflects on faith, memory, and community through photographs and words that honor the enduring power of small gestures. PICTORIAL STORY SILVER AND BREATH Within this fragile space between looking and being seen, Eva Christina Nielsen has developed a practice that is both restrained and deeply attentive. INTERVIEW GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. PICTORIAL STORY RUPTURE REPAIR REMNANT In this reflection on rupture, Donna Bassin invites us to consider how grief settles into the body and the image, and how the slow work of witnessing becomes a form of repair. PICTORIAL STORY DELTA DUSK John Agather weaves image and text into a single current, tracing how music, memory, and daily life continue to move through the Mississippi Delta. PICTORIAL STORY SILENT BEAUTY Tamara Quadrelli photographs the world by slowing down inside it. There is no rush to explain what we are seeing. The pleasure comes from staying with it. PICTORIAL STORY SOLITUDE UNDER A TECHNIFIED SUN Tracing the space between movement and stillness, Héctor Morón reveals a city that persists as human presence slips by. PICTORIAL STORY 4320 MINUTES WITHOUT COLOR Moving between photography and narration, Mohammed Nahi traces a period in which sight could no longer be assumed as reliable, and attention shifted toward memory and duration. PICTORIAL STORY THE PAINTED VILLAGE OF LABANDHAR Anjan Ghosh’s photographs carry us to Labandhar, where painting becomes language, tradition stays present, and art grows through shared ground. INTERVIEW WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. INTERVIEW WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. WHERE WE BELONG Community storytelling lies at the heart of The Pictorial List’s mission, and Marlon Ramos’ photographs reflects the spirit of the place we now call home. New York, New York! PICTORIAL STORY NYC SUBWAY RIDERS BEFORE THE INVASTION OF SMARTPHONES Hiroyuki Ito’s subway photographs reveal a vanished intimacy. INTERVIEW FABRIC OF NEW YORK VISUALS Elle Clarke lives NYC — snapping its heart and hustle with her smartphone, one real city moment at a time! INTERVIEW NOD OF RECOGNITION B Jane Levine’s portraits give a playful wink — inviting a nod of recognition to the hidden stories we all carry inside. INTERVIEW NEW YORK IMPROVISATIONS Fast-moving, off-kilter, witty, raw and classic film noir define Bill Lacey's photography. PICTORIAL STORY MERMAID MAGIC AJ Bernstein captures the magic of the Mermaid Parade—where fantasy, freedom, and community come together in a sea of color and joy. INTERVIEW GOTHAM MEMORIES Jeff Rothstein clicks, time unfolds — capturing the heart of the city in timeless frames, from 1969 to today. PICTORIAL STORY TAKING THE PLUNGE Carol Dronsfield takes the plunge with the Coney Island’s Polar Bears, capturing the chill, the thrill, and the heart. INTERVIEW THE AUTHENTIC GAZE Amy Horowitz says “Don’t Smile”— and in doing so, captures the real and wonderfully unscripted faces of New York City. VOLUME ONE- NEW YORK BUY NOW EXHIBITION CODE GIRL May 30 to July 26 2026 Opening Party May 30 @ 5pm This exhibition positions GIRL as structure, as manifesto, and as blueprint. It moves beyond representation, unfolding as a system that shapes how work comes into being, finds its place, and is experienced. MORE INFO © Woobie join the Pictorial Community >>> Follow us on Instagram #thepictoriallist @thepictorial.list Load More COLORS OF HÜZÜN Through fragments and gestures, Pedro Vidal traces Istanbul as shared melancholy lingers in everyday life, the city unfolding slowly and refusing to settle into a single, definitive understanding. Interviews you may have missed REPRESENTING THE PEOPLE Camille J. Wheeler documents Austin's streets, with a particular focus on its homeless community. COMEDIANS Steve Best documents the British comedy scene, backstage and on stage, the highs and lows, and the joy of being a comedian. QUARANTINE IN QUEENS Neil Kramer's humorous and compassionate lockdown diary has gone viral. ENROUTE TO THE PINES Robert Sherman shares his documentary series about drag queens celebrating the 'Invasion of the Pines'. SERVICE INTERRUPTION Wojciech Karlinski documented Poland train stations during the pandemic, highlighting their formal and aesthetic side. VOICES OF THE NILE Voices of the Nile by Bastien Massa and Arthur Larie is a project documenting the relationship of Ethiopians with the Blue Nile. BREAKS FROM REALITY The magic only dreams are made of become reality for viewers as they engage in the poetic imagery of Mariëtte Aernoudts. BEYOND THE STORY Through her documentary photography, Christina Simons is compelled to tell the stories of those who are unable to do so themselves. © Russell Cobb Stay up to date Subscribing to The Pictorial List means joining a community that values visual storytelling. You will get exclusive content, inspiring pictorial stories, thoughtful interviews, book reviews, and more — delivered weekly to your inbox. Media Partners

We are on a mission to discover new photographers, and the most pictorial and interesting photo stories out there. SPOTLIGHT / CI DEMI Istanbul TÜRKIYE AARON RUBINO ABBIE BRIGGS ABDULLA SHINOSE CK ABHAY PATEL ABHISHEK SINGH ADAM SINCLAIR ADESH GAUR ADRIAN PELEGRIN ADRIAN TAN ADRIAN WHEAR AGATA LO MONACO AHMET HOJAMYRADOV AJ BERNSTEIN ALAN THEXTON ALEJANDRO DAVILA ALESSANDRO GIUGNI ALEX FRAYNE ALEX GOTTFRIED BONDER ALEX RUTHERFORD ALEXANDRA AVLONITIS ALEXANDROS ZILOS ALEXEY STRECHEN ALICIA HABER AMY HOROWITZ AMY NEWTON McCONNEL GET ON THE LIST © John St.

Be inspired by the photographers on the 2020 List. 2020 PHOTOGRAPHERS © Abbie Briggs ABBIE BRIGGS Wisconsin USA ABHAY PATEL Delhi INDIA ABHISHEK SINGH New Delhi INDIA ADAM SINCLAIR Melbourne AUSTRALIA ADESH GAUR Uttar Pradesh INDIA ADRIAN TAN SINGAPORE ADRIAN WHEAR Melbourne AUSTRALIA AHMET HOJAMYRADOV Minsk BELARUS ALEX FRAYNE Adelaide AUSTRALIA ALEXANDRA AVLONITIS New York ALEXEY STRECHEN RUSSIA ALICIA HABER Montevideo URAGUAY ANEEKA MANKU England UNITED KINGDOM ANGEL CARNICER Zaragoza SPAIN ANNA MARCHIOLI FRANCE ANNETTE LANG Nice FRANCE ANTONIS GIAKOUMAKIS Athens GREECE ANWAR SADAT Nairobi KENYA ARTURO CAÑEDO Lima PERU ASHISH PATEL Delhi INDIA ASSIA STARKE RUSSIA/AUSTRIA ASTRID NEUNDLINGER Vienna AUSTRIA B JANE LEVINE New York USA BELINDA CORNEY London UNITED KINGDOM BENNY VAN DEN BULKE BELGIUM

Be inspired by the photographers on the 2022 List. 2022 PHOTOGRAPHERS © Adrian Pelegrin ADRIAN PELEGRIN Playa del Carmen MEXICO AHSANUL HAQUE FAHIM Dhaka, BANGLADESH AJ BERNSTEIN New York UNITED STATES ANWAR EHTESHAM Dhaka BANGLADESH ASEN GEORGIEV Sofia BULGARIA ASLI GONEN Eskisehir TURKEY BRIAN DOUGLAS Ontario CANADA CAHLEEN HUDSON New Taipei City TAIWAN CHETAN VERMA Gurgaon INDIA DEAN GOLDBERG New York UNITED STATES ELIZABETH PAOLETTI UNITED STATES EMIR SEVIM Istanbul TURKEY EMY MAIKE Baden Württemberg GERMANY FRANCESCA TIBONI Cagliari ITALY GABRIEL MIELES GUZMÁN Guayaquil ECUADOR GABRIELE GENTILE Parma ITALY GIANLUCA MORTAROTTI London UNITED KINGDOM GIORGIO GERARDI Venice ITALY JAN ENKELMANN London UNITED KINGDOM JEAN ROSS New York UNITED STATES JELISA PETERSON Texas UNITED STATES JENS F. KRUSE Mallorca SPAIN JONAS WELTEN Salzburg AUSTRIA LAINE MULLALLY Stockholm SWEDEN LELE BISSOLI Vercelli ITALY

Be inspired by the photographers on the 2025 List. 2025 PHOTOGRAPHERS © Stephanie Duprie Routh ABDULLA SHINOSE CK Malabar INDIA ALEJANDRO DAVILA Pachuca MEXICO ANTON BOU Montreal CANADA AYANAVA SIL Kolkata INDIA BETTY GOH SINGAPORE BUKU SARKAR Paris FRANCE CYNTHIA KARALLA New York UNITED STATES DAVID GRAY New York UNITED STATES EVA MALLIS New York UNITED STATES FANJA HUBERS Utrecht THE NETHERLANDS FUTURE HACKNEY London UNITED KINGDOM GIORDANO SIMONCINI Rome ITALY GUILLERMO FRANCO Córdoba ARGENTINA HIROYUKI ITO New York UNITED STATES JAY HSU Yilan City TAIWAN KAT PUCHOWSKA Barcelona SPAIN LAETITIA HEISLER Berlin GERMANY LUISA MONTAGNA Parma ITALY MASSIMO LUPIDI ITALY MATTEO BERGAMI Bologna ITALY MEERA NERURKAR Düsseldorf GERMANY NASOS KARABELAS Greece ATHENS NICOLA CAPPELLARI Vicenza ITALY PARISA AZADI IRAN & DUBAI PARVATHI KUMAR New Jersey UNITED STATES

Be inspired by the photographers on the 2023 List. 2023 PHOTOGRAPHERS © Ypatia Kornarou AARON RUBINO San Francisco UNITED STATES ALESSANDRO GIUGNI Milan ITALY ALEX GOTTFRIED BONDER Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA AMY NEWTON McCONNEL Arizona UNITED STATES ANASTASIYA PENTYUKHINA Moscow RUSSIA ANDREE THORPE Ontario CANADA BARBARA PEACOCK Portland UNITED STATES BRANDEN MAY Atlanta, UNITED STATES DARREN SACKS London UNITED KINGDOM DOUG WINTER California UNITED STATES ELSA ARRAIS Leiria PORTUGAL FABIO CATANZARO Venice ITALY GILES ISBELL Chiang Mai, THAILAND IDA DI PASQUALE Rome ITALY JAN PONNET Antwerp BELGIUM JAYESH KUMAR SHARMA Varanasi INDIA JEFF ROTHSTEIN New York UNITED STATES JUAN BARTE Madrid SPAIN JUAN SOSTRE California UNITED STATES KONRAD HELLFEUER Görlitz GERMANY LEANNE STAPLES New York UNITED STATES MENA SAMBIASI Madrid SPAIN MONIKA JURGA POLAND NAIMA HALL New York UNITED STATES NSIRIES Bologna ITALY

Be inspired by the photographers on the 2024 List. 2024 PHOTOGRAPHERS © Anna Tut ALEXANDROS ZILOS Athens GREECE AMY HOROWITZ New York UNITED STATES ANA-MARIA ALB Bukovina ROMANIA ANN PETRUCKEVITCH UNITED KINGDOM ANNA TUT Krasnogorsk City RUSSIA CARMEN SOLANA CIRES Madrid SPAIN CATIA MONTAGNA SCOTLAND/ITALY DASHA DARVAJ UMRIGAR Karachi PAKISTAN DEDIPYA BASAK Kolkata INDIA EDWIN CARUNGAY San Francisco UNITED STATES FRANCE LECLERC Chicago UNITED STATES ISABELLE COORDES Münster GERMANY JOHN KAYACAN Los Angeles UNITED STATES JUSTINE GEORGET Lyon FRANCE MARIETTE PATHY ALLEN New York UNITED STATES MATTHIAS GÖDDE Beckum GERMANY MEI SEVA New York UNITED STATES MIA DEPAOLA Washington D.C UNITED STATES NAZANIN DAVARI Tehran IRAN PAUL COOKLIN UNITED KINGDOM PEDRO VIDAL Barcelona SPAIN RAFA ROJAS São Paulo BRAZIL ROMAIN COUDRIER Marseille FRANCE ROWELL B. TIMOTEO La Union PHILIPPINES SASHA IVANOV St. Petersburg RUSSIA

Be inspired by the photographers on the 2021 List. 2021 PHOTOGRAPHERS © Meryl Meisler AGATA LO MONACO ITALY ALAN THEXTON Melbourne AUSTRALIA ALEX RUTHERFORD Surrey UNITED KINGDOM ANDRES GONZALEZ Porto PORTUGAL ANDREW ROVENKO Melbourne AUSTRALIA ANDRÉ LOBÃO London UNITED KINGDOM AURÉLIEN BOMY Nantes FRANCE BARRY BOTTOMLEY London UNITED KINGDOM BASTIAN PETER Basel SWITZERLAND BEN ALLAN London UNITED KINGDOM BETTY MANOUSOS Athens GREECE CAMILLE WHEELER Texas USA CARLA HENOUD Beirut LEBANON CAROL DRONSFIELD New York UNITED STATES CHICHEK BAYRAMLY Baku AZERBAIJAN CHRISTINA SIMONS Melbourne AUSTRALIA DAMIEN GORET FRANCE DANIEL GOLDENBERG Buenos Aires ARGENTINA DANIELA PEREIRA Montevideo URUGUAY DANNY JACKSON Essex UNITED KINGDOM DAVID KUGELMAS New York UNITED STATES DAVID LAWLESS Winnipeg CANADA DAVID SHORTLAND London UNITED KINGDOM DREW KELLEY California USA EDUARDO ORTIZ Valparaiso CHILE

MINIMALIST IMPRESSIONISM To offset his advertising and environmental footprint, Ixi Nijhawan uses his art to raise awareness for sustainability and minimalism. MINIMALIST IMPRESSIONISM October 15, 2021 INTERVIEW PHOTOGRAPHY Ixi Nijhawan INTERVIEW Melanie Meggs Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp LinkedIn Pinterest Copy link SHARE As a photographer, Ixi Nijhawan’s work has always been a reflection of the world around him. After spending time in the advertising industry, he was struck by the shocking impact it was having on the environment, and the vast quantity of items being consumed. As a result, Ixi has shifted his focus to ethical and sustainable photography, using his art to raise awareness and promote minimalism. Through years of practice and experience, Ixi has developed an eye for capturing the beauty of the everyday, often creating abstract scenes full of vivid colours and shapes. He has a unique ability to isolate elements from their surroundings, creating minimalist yet powerful images that draw attention to their subject. By using his craft to advocate for environmentalism and sustainability, Ixi is creating a movement that goes beyond the artwork itself. Through his art, he is encouraging viewers to become mindful of the impact their consumption has on the environment, while promoting a lifestyle of mindful minimalism. Whilst working on an ad campaign, Ixi discovered that the average household in rich countries have over 300,000 items. Working with companies (big and small), the global advertising industry has ramped up growth and demand for products that is costing the earth nearly $3 trillion in environmental, social and human health damage. Ixi's journey as an ethical photographer is truly inspirational. His story shows us all that with creativity and passion comes great responsibility, and that through art we can create real change in our world. “I’m very fortunate to say that photography found me. And not the other way round. In many ways, it unshackled me and let me experiment. And the more I photographed, the more I gravitated towards certain aesthetics and causes that inadvertently helped shape the ‘why’ of my photography. Which is why, you’ll find certain recurring themes in my images - minimalism and abstract impressionism.” IN CONVERSATION WITH IXI NIJHAWAN THE PICTORIAL LIST: Ixi please tell us about yourself. How did you become interested in photography? What does photography mean to you? IXI NIJHAWAN: I was born in Chandigarh, which is north of India, but have little recollection of the place really as the family moved to New Delhi soon after. A few years later we shifted to Mumbai, when it was still called Bombay. That is the city where I studied and grew up and discovered the world of advertising. It wasn’t much later that I moved to Dubai and have been here since the early noughties, working in some of the finest advertising agencies in the region. Photography was always part of my professional life, working closely with different photographers on advertising campaigns. But I only looked at it more seriously late last year when I quit my job and decided to take some time off of advertising. It was during this time that I wanted to explore art that didn’t involve putting a logo on it. TPL: Where or how do you find your inspiration? IXI: From the photography greats. I can spend hours pouring over their work. The craft, the details, the angles, the stories. I also enjoy scrolling through my Insta feed. So much talent out there. It’s great to see people putting so much love into photography. TPL: Talk to us about your experience in how global advertising has impacted the environment. What would you like to see change and how can we all help to make a difference? How has this changed your own perception to how you photograph now? IXI: Thank you for asking me that question. It’s obviously a very broad one and also quite personal. To begin with, it’s not just the global advertising industry. It’s a massive cog, sure, but it’s the whole machine we should be looking at - from the manufacturers to the advertising agencies to the big tech. They have so much data on us that they know what triggers to press and how to sell to us. We’re turning our homes into warehouses. And it’s not like there’s a pool of unlimited resources. The limits of consumption have grown more and more visible. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, for instance. If ever there was evidence of us trashing our planet, it’s right there. Floating. Three times the size of France. And it’s not even part of the conversation any more. It would be naive to think that profit driven companies will actually want to put limits on growth. So to answer your question, yes, we can all do something. And we should. It’s not sustainable at the moment. Justin Rosenstein, the former engineer at Facebook, summed it up quite accurately, “We live in a world in which a tree is worth more, financially, dead than alive. A world in which a whale is worth more dead than alive.” Which is why I’ve adopted minimalism and advocate it through my photography. Whether it’s for you or not, that’s an individual choice. But let’s make it part of the conversation at the very least. TPL: Describe your series “Minimalist”. How did the concept come about? What do you want the viewer to take away from these images? IXI: So this series, in a way, is the meeting point of many things that I cherish - aesthetics, values, philosophies. And it came to me when I was trying to experiment with the broader concept of minimalism in my own life - stripping away everything unnecessary and keeping just the essential. Slowly, it crept into my photography without announcing itself. If the images can evoke a sense of quiet reassurance and become a gateway to minimalism, it would be a personal triumph. TPL: Describe your series “Abstract Impressionism”. How did the concept come about? What do you want the viewer to take away from these images? IXI: This series is the desire to capture life in motion. How I experience the streets. Never still. People, a perpetual blur. Abstractions caught in light and shadow. And this helps me look at scenes a bit more theatrically. Everyone playing out a certain emotion or feeling in the arena of life. Ordinarily I might not remember these people once they have passed me by, but when I look at these images, I know exactly who they are and how they helped define that moment. A reminder of sorts, if you ever needed one, that our canvases can only be enriched by strangers. TPL: What are some tips or advice you would give yourself if you started photography all over again? IXI: It took me a while to understand what focal lengths are important for my photography. So, if anything, I would fast track that knowledge probably. Instinct helps me identify all the creative possibilities. TPL: Do you have any favourite artists or photographers you would like to share with us? IXI: Susan Burnstine, Michael Kenna, Sally Mann, Daido Moriyama, Vivian Maier, Sebastiao Salgado, Ken Van Sickle, and Barbara Kruger. And then there is Edward Hopper - his paintings are such an inspiration. TPL: When you are out shooting - how much of it is instinctual versus planned? IXI: When I’m working on my minimalist series, it’s a combination of both really. Instinct helps me identify all the creative possibilities, and if it’s not happening in a certain way on a certain day, then I plan to make it happen the next day or the next week. As for the abstract series, it’s mostly instinctual. Even with an identical technical process, the results can vary quite a bit. And I think that’s part of its charm as well. TPL: Does the equipment you use help you in achieving your vision in your photography? What camera do you use? Do you have any preferred lens/focal length? IXI: Of course the equipment helps. There are certain features in the camera that make a difference to how I shoot. I’m currently shooting with a Fujifilm X-T3, but want to give Ricoh GR III a go as well. I prefer shooting wide, so 16mm or 23mm or anywhere in between (on a cropped sensor) are my preferred choices. TPL: What are some of your goals as an artist or photographer? Where do you see yourself in five years? IXI: I have visions of certain images I’d like to make in the future. And it will require planning as they are quite ambitious in their scope and visual detail. Beyond that, I’d like to explore more travel and landscape photography. TPL: Are there any special projects you are currently working on that you would like to let everyone know about? IXI: I’m currently working on a project commissioned by a zine for the abstract impressionist series. TPL: "When I’m not out photographing, I (like to)... IXI: Remind myself that I should be out photographing and stop being a lazy ass." Ixi Nijhawan’s work is a reminder of the importance of sustainability and minimalism. His art is a celebration of the beauty of the everyday, and a testament to the power of photography to capture and convey meaningful messages. His work is a reminder of our responsibility to protect the environment, and an encouragement to appreciate the simple things in life. We take the opportunity to thank Ixi for sharing his insightful words and photography with us. VIEW IXI'S PORTFOLIO Instagram >>> read more interviews >>> WHERE WE BELONG Community storytelling lies at the heart of The Pictorial List’s mission, and Marlon Ramos’ photographs reflects the spirit of the place we now call home. GUIDED BY A WHISPER Guided by reflection and the quiet presence of art history, Isolda Fabregat Sanz makes photographs that resist certainty and invite the viewer to remain inside the act of looking. WHAT REMAINS, WHAT EMERGES Laetitia Heisler transforms risk, memory, and the body into layered analogue visions — feminist rituals of seeing that reveal what endures, and what quietly emerges beyond visibility. WHAT WE ARE, WHAT WE DO Culture lives where art and community meet, and in this space Alejandro Dávila’s photographs reveal the unseen labor and devotion that sustain creation. ANALOGICAL LIMBO Nicola Cappellari reminds us that the photograph’s power lies not in what it shows, but in what it leaves unsaid. THREADS OF MOROCCAN LIFE Through gestures of work and moments of community, Kat Puchowska reveals Morocco’s overlooked beauty. IT STARTED AS LIGHT…ENDED IN SHIVERS… Between intimacy and estrangement, Anton Bou’s photographs wander — restless fragments of light and shadow, mapping the fragile terrain where self unravels into sensation. WITH EYES THAT LISTEN AND A HEART THAT SEES For decades, Rivka Shifman Katvan has documented the unseen backstage world of Broadway, capturing authenticity where performance and humanity intersect. DIPTYCH DIALOGUES Through the beautiful language of diptychs, Taiwanese photographer Jay Hsu invites us into a world where quiet images speak of memory, resilience, and hope. UNKNOWN ABYSSINIA In Ethiopia, Sebastian Piatek found a new way of seeing — where architecture endures, but women in motion carry the narrative forward. THE PULSE OF THE STREET Moments vanish, yet Suvam Saha holds them still — the pulse of India’s streets captured in fragments of life that will never repeat. WHAT DO WE WANT? More than documentation, David Gray reveals the human pulse of resistance and asks us to see beyond the surface of unrest. CRACKED RIBS 2016 Cynthia Karalla opens up about the art of survival, the power of perspective, and why she believes each of us holds a monopoly on our own narrative. STREETS OF KOLKATA Ayanava Sil’s reveals Kolkata’s soul, capturing moments with empathy, presence and humility while offering deep insight into both city and self. PERIPHERAL PLACES A project by Catia Montagna that distills fleeting encounters and spatial poetics into triptychs - visual short stories that capture the in-between, where meaning often hides. POINTE-AU-CHIEN IS NOT DEAD Through Wayan Barre’s documentary, we are invited not only to see but to feel the lived realities of a community standing at the crossroads of environmental collapse and cultural survival. QUEER HAPPENED HERE Author Marc Zinaman sheds light on the valuable contributions that LGBTQ+ individuals have made to the cultural and social fabric of New York City. TRACES OF TIME Marked by an ongoing visual dialogue with time, memory, and impermanence, Zamin Jafarov’s long-term projects highlight the quiet power of observation and the emotional depth of simplicity. THERE MY LITTLE EYES Guillermo Franco’s book is an exploration of seeing beyond the obvious. His work invites us to embrace patience, curiosity, and the unexpected in a world that often rushes past the details. VISUAL HEALING BEYOND THE DIAGNOSIS Betty Goh’s photography exemplifies the transformative power of visual storytelling, where personal adversity becomes a canvas for resilience, illuminating the connection between art, healing, and self-reclamation. EVERYDAY BLACKNESS Parvathi Kumar’s book is a profound tribute to the resilience, and contributions of incredible Black women from all walks of life, making it a vital addition to the conversation around International Women’s Month. A VOYAGE TO DISCOVERY Fanja Hubers’ journey in photography is one of continuous exploration, balancing documentation with artistic self-reflection. MARCH FORWARD Through photography, Suzanne Phoenix creates a space for representation, recognition, and resistance — ensuring that the voices of women and gender-diverse people are seen, heard, and celebrated. FLUX: Exploring Form, Luminescence, and Motion Amy Newton-McConnel embraces unpredictability, finding structure within chaos and allowing light to guide the composition. AN ODE TO SPONTANEITY AND SERENDIPITY Meera Nerurkar captures not just what is seen but also what is felt, turning the everyday into something worth a second glance.