First of all, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the jury and the entire reFocus team for this award, which is a great honor and a huge incentive for me and my career.

“The iron quest” was perhaps the most challenging project I've done to date. In addition to the preliminary work of approaching this group to accept me and let me be close to them while they worked, there were several risks while shooting. I had to swim to the wreck without getting the camera wet and spend several hours in the water, always having to be aware of the waves and strong currents when the tides changed. The waters at this beach are permanently murky due to the sediment and oil that is released from the wreckage, so I injured myself a few times on the sharp edges of the submerged wreckage. Finally, I had to take advantage of the low tides to reach this site along the beach by hitching a ride on a motorcycle, as access is impassable during the rainy season. But all these difficulties made me admire and respect even more the way these young people work on this beach every day.

I first became aware of this place a few years ago when I was about to arrive in Angola by plane and noticed that I was flying over a long stretch of beach full of stranded boats. Finding access to the beach wasn't easy because it's a relatively isolated area with paths that only the locals know about. The first time I visited the beach, nobody was working on the wrecks, the ships were resting peacefully stranded in the shallows.

When I happened to return to this site about six months ago, I found to my disbelief that almost all of the 20 or so ships had practically disappeared because they had been dismantled by a few companies. But when I noticed the group of young men scavenging in the half sunken carcasses, I immediately felt I had to tell their story. I remember that same day I took off my clothes and swam to the wreckage to talk to them and try to approach the group for the first time. I guess I surprised them positively with this attitude since I was practically accepted into the gang at that moment.

Rather than looking for single images, even if they tell stories with some impact and scope, I intend to continue focusing on documentary projects as they allow me to explore a particular subject in greater depth and create a more structured narrative.

I'm increasingly looking for themes that depict the human condition and the true stories of people who are fighting for their survival and who are unknown and undervalued by most of us. Telling their stories is becoming more and more a kind of mission for me.

That's a huge compliment for me! Maybe this happens because, as I said before, I seek out themes and stories that provoke emotions and feelings due to the extent of the fragility of the human condition I portray or the precariousness of how people live and work. On the other hand, I think that the closeness I keep with the people I photograph, not only physically but also emotionally, may also contribute to this result.

Quite frankly, it's not easy. I often come across stories and moments with incredible richness right next to me, but I simply can't portray them or create a project with them because there's resistance from people or there's some kind of risk that I have to consider.

Although this often happens, I remain attentive to the world around me, but not that world which is a kind of [a] bubble where people who want to ignore and distance themselves from those who live in precarious conditions live. It's the world beyond this bubble that I'm most passionate about, where the people and stories I want to show are, even if I have to dive into dirty waters, walk on top of trash, or face some risks.

An enormous willingness to get to know and tell the real stories of people who struggle daily for their survival and who are unknown or undervalued.

Great closeness to the people I photograph.

To arouse emotions and feelings with my photography.

To increasingly use my photography as a manifesto to draw attention to the inequalities and injustices that exist in the world and which could easily be eliminated with just a little willpower.