Two photographs taken on the island of Evia during the catastrophic wildfires that ravaged many parts of Greece in August are included in TIME’s Top 100 Photos of 2021.
The first of the photos, which also made the magazine cover, shows 81-year-old Panayiota Ritsopi putting her hand to her chest in despair as the flames, painting everything orange, approach her village. “The fire had reached very close to her house and she was looking for her husband. He was one of the many villagers who had chosen to stay behind in order to protect their property,” Greek photographer Konstantinos Tsakalidis, who shot the picture for Bloomberg/Getty Images, has told newspaper Kathimerini about the photograph.
© Nicolas Economou / Reuters
The second photo, taken by Nicolas Economou for Reuters, depicts a landscape that could have been taken from any catastrophe movie, showing a ferry transporting locals away from the island in the night. “People are evacuated on a ferry as a wildfire burns in the Greek village of Limni, on the island of Evia, on Aug. 6. With other escape routes blocked by flames, residents and tourists were urged to flee by boat,” the photo description reads.
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Most of the images in the list depict tragic events, as is recognized in the magazine’s introduction to the list “Remember when people thought it was the year? That 2020 was uniquely cursed, the worst year ever, that all would be resolved by January. Instead, 2021 has proved to be a fraught annum of unfinished transitions, half-kept promises, all torque and in-betweens.”
Among the fewer photos of happy events, however, we find another Greek. Not another photographer, but the subject of a shot taken by Julian Finney for Getty Images, is tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas. Almost on his knee, he’s playing a backhand against Novak Djokovic during the Men’s Singles Final match of the French Open in Paris on June 13, where he won the first two sets before losing to the champion, and placing second.
See all of the 100 photos chosen by TIME, including Finney’s photo of Tsitsipas, here.
