d231641c-e03b-4388-b0fd-2c6aa2b9a326

0f7a494e-f3f3-42f6-8067-4de6a0441629

2eee60cf-90db-4bdb-84b9-8f445f3b6c6e

30683241-2d73-4821-bdf0-12ac1d526b75

b4a0a5c0-7429-4215-8f84-53d3648c3d04

Unwavering Grace

refocus-2nd-place-purification-badge-3-1724174025

João Coelho - 2024 Black & White Photo Contest |  2nd Place Winner | Non-Professional

João Coelho

Angola

refocus-joao-coelho-1668603994

This series honors the fierce resilience of women who shoulder the unfair burden of survival alone. Amidst backbreaking labor and deep exhaustion, they remain exemplary mothers—keeping their children close and breastfeeding in the harshest environments. They are the backbone of hope.

Gold

Forget easy smiles; in these faces, innocence is a piercing accusation. Their gaze doesn't reflect—it interrogates. Behind the grime, a heavy, wordless question haunts the landfill: Why? Why must they mine survival from the ruins of our consumption, the ghosts of a future that never arrived?

01352d18-7f78-42f4-92f6-4a90285e87f4

5e838f5d-fdeb-476a-a91c-529b75fae372

a456d7e5-9b67-4683-855c-5c70bce1395b

63b689f4-8b3f-45ec-a56f-bd2676296797

1fb5ef29-76c0-4384-be90-c01d893dcfdd

Nominee

Heirs to Waste

In a gray landfill, children hunt the ash for a reason to smile. Today was different: a broken toy gun survived the flames. Instantly, the wasteland flooded with laughter. In their innocent hands, a weapon was stripped of violence, firing only bullets of pure, defiant joy

75ea8a2b-50db-4754-add8-2fcd1b8bdc30

1bcf18f1-02b9-444b-9412-91b9179a6386

34234bfc-9e52-46ad-8e09-fe6561abcff5

977e7366-c83a-4c8e-b714-c5bb3c1b8723

6da307d0-9fbb-4341-b38b-781ebc7aca05

Bullets of joy

This series honors the extraordinary women who transform barren landfills into fertile soil of resistance. Amidst waste and backbreaking labor, they raise pillars of dignity with bare hands. Balancing survival with infinite tenderness, these giants turn scarcity into a revolutionary act of love.

55f4fa80-7eaa-487f-b814-922991905dc7

89c42f26-fc19-4163-a4dd-d4387701e822

9b9c05dc-bb35-4f24-9aa2-725e30bd5ef5

4388ddd0-2824-4490-8e53-724788bffab4

956f8d6a-4983-4e50-ab5c-fcb7f92dae79

The Fertile Soil of Resistance

These young men risk their lives every day in this ship graveyard. They dive to pull iron plates out of sunken ships, using only their hands. Even when exhausted, they must find the strength to fight the waves and currents and carry the heavy pieces to the beach, where they are weighed and sold

refocus-coelho_exhaustion-copia-1761507817

Honorable Mention

Exhaustion

They need each other, and each one needs everyone else in a titanic struggle to pull a huge piece of iron from a sunken ship from the bottom of the sea. Unity is strength and can move mountains. At the end of the day, the real victory will be feeding the families who are eagerly waiting for them

refocus-05-1761502887

refocus-03-1761502884

refocus-04-1761502894

refocus-07-copia-1761502896

refocus-10-1761502891

One for all, all for one

It all begins at the bottom of this bay—a dark world where humans are not welcome. In this realm, filled with sharp iron, a group of youths take immense risks salvaging iron to sell. It's a titanic effort that only ends on the beach when they load the heavy pieces onto motorcycles for weighing

refocus-07-1761491408

refocus-01-1761491422

refocus-04-1761491425

refocus-05-1761491417

refocus-06-1761491413

From the bottom of the ocean

A dismembered toy they luckily find at the dump is enough to make them children again. They have learned from an early age to be adults in this sad, gray world in order to survive, but they also know that they have to help each other because they are friends forever.

refocus-02-1761489357

refocus-01-1761489364

refocus-03-1761489360

refocus-04-1761489370

refocus-05-1761489366

Always children, always friends

On a deserted beach, a group of believers meet with their Pastor to free themselves from the evil spirits that have taken hold of them. The liberation is only complete when they dive into the sea, lovingly led by the Pastor as he invokes God's presence to witness their purification

refocus-purification-1746953321

Purification

They risk their lives every day in this ship graveyard, diving to remove iron sheets from the sunken carcasses of ships, using only their hands and the strength of their arms. Exhausted, they have to find the strength to fight the waves and currents and bring the heavy pieces to shore

refocus-exhaustion-1746953022

Bronze

Madalena is still a child, but she has to look after her little sister while her parents work. It's always been like this, her mother and grandmother also had to suffer the same fate of being premature mothers. But her gaze, vacant and sad, doesn't lie! It was too soon!

refocus-too-soon-1746955489

Too soon

No, she's not comfortably listening to her favorite songs. Her headphones are just an old headband she found in the trash. She doesn't even know that those shiny records contain melodies that would make her dream.  In her world, the only sound she can hear is the sound of silence

refocus-the-sound-of-silence-1746956448

The sound of silence

It all begins at the bottom of this bay, a dark and gloomy world where a group of fearless young men brave immense risks to salvage iron from sunken ships. It's a titanic effort that only ends on the beach when they manage to get the heavy pieces onto motorcycles to be weighed down

refocus-01-1746960530

refocus-02-1746960533

refocus-03-1746960537

refocus-04-1746960542

refocus-05-1746960550

Indifferent to an army enraged by the invasion of his territory, this man competes with flies for scraps of food. It sounds like a post-apocalyptic scenario, but this is the real life of many who survive every day on what others throw away and who have no idea that this kingdom of flies exists.

refocus-the-kingdom-of-flies-1746954931

The kingdom of flies

A dismembered toy they luckily find at the dump is enough to make them children again. They have learned from an early age to be adults in this sad, gray world in order to survive, but they also know that they have to help each other because they are friends forever

refocus-01-1746957032

refocus-02-1746957041

refocus-03-1746957050

refocus-04-1746960062

refocus-05-1746957057

Silver

Friends forever

He was born and lives in a dump, a gloomy world where toys have to be invented with the right amount of imagination. A bike rim and a simple stick are enough to give birth to something new and exciting, reminding us that children can be children even in the worst places in the world to live

refocus-4g8a0227-1746961108

refocus-4g8a0233-1746961119

refocus-4g8a0169-1746961097

refocus-4g8a9998-1746961131

How to be a real child

They are considered outcasts, having fled their parents' homes and the institutions where they have always been abused. They help each other escape the onslaught of police and malaria in the ruins of the city. They have all chosen to live on the wrong side of freedom

refocus-01_4g8a5427-1732264456

refocus-02_4g8a5006-1732264466

refocus-03_4g8a4637-1732264478

refocus-04_4g8a5281-1732264507

refocus-05_4g8a5448-1732264519

Discovery of the Year

The wrong side of freedom

All they need to have fun is the welcoming waters of the sea. They run wildly towards the waves and dive awkwardly, in a pure and natural joy like the water, air and earth around them, and not even the roar of the waves can mute the sound of fun

refocus-01_9g5a7662-1732262934

refocus-02_9g5a7615-1732262945

refocus-03_9g5a7625-1732262955

refocus-04_9g5a7639-1732262979

refocus-05_9g5a7646-1732263004

The sound of fun

The prolonged drought has exhausted the land, everything he planted is now turned to dust. Every day he looks up at the sky, as if he wanted to see beyond the clouds, begging for rain from a God who has ignored him

refocus-begging-for-rain-1731058196

Begging for rain

She seems to be comfortably listening to her favorite songs. But what look like headphones are just an old hairband she found in the dump. She doesn't even know that those shiny records contain melodies that would make her dream. All she can hear in her world is silence and the buzzing of flies

refocus-the-sound-of-silence-1731009246