23rd Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest People
THE LAST POGONI

This photograph is part of my long-term project The Last Pogoni, which documents one of the poorest and most depopulated areas of Greece, located along the border with Albania. Here, people live with the constant feeling of witnessing the last light of an imminent sunset. The image was taken inside a house in Vissani, one of the villages of Greek Pogoni, just before the woman begins the long ritual of dressing in the region’s traditional attire. The project explores how music and traditions — deeply felt and lived — continue to sustain a sense of community, both among those who remain and those who have left, in exile, one of the central themes of Pogoni’s music.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 08.2025
Date Uploaded: 12.2025
Photo Location: Vissani, Greece
Camera: LEICA Q2
Copyright: © Eleni Albarosa