João Coelho
PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris 2024 – State of the World
Curatorial Selection – The wrong side of freedom
Q: How has your personal background or life experiences influenced the global issues and stories you choose to capture through your photography?
Returning to Angola, the country where I was born and from which I was forced to emigrate to Portugal due to the civil war, was an experience that had a profound impact on my life and my photographic career. Suddenly I was out of my comfort zone and began to experience everyday scenes where people were literally struggling to survive. This awakened in me an enormous desire to get to know their lives and their stories better, and above all to understand why and how they had ended up in this situation, and why and how they had become outcasts in a society that was insensitive to their condition. These issues, which unfortunately still exist today, led me to choose documentary photography as the ideal tool to tell these stories and, above all, to convey messages that raise awareness and mobilize people around the need to make the world a fairer place.
Q: What inspired you to submit your work to The State of the World competition, and how has receiving this recognition from PX3 impacted your journey as a photographer?
I consider the State of the World competition one of the world’s best forums for photographers to express their perspectives on global issues and stories, especially those that denounce injustices and social asymmetries, or question the determinism of poverty and the fragility of the human condition simply because someone was born in the wrong place on earth. Having my work recognized by PX3 is certainly a very important milestone in my career, as it allows my messages on these issues to reach a wider audience.
Q: Can you take us behind the scenes of your winning series? What was the story you aimed to tell, and did any unexpected moments shape the final result?
I must admit that I faced several difficulties and risks in carrying out this project. First, I had to overcome the challenge of approaching this group of outcasts living in a dilapidated building, a process that took more than three months. It was important for me to be accepted in their midst, as if I belonged to the gang, so that they would allow me to photograph them freely, without me being a foreign body in their daily lives. Secondly, I had to hide and flee several times from the police, who regularly patrol these abandoned places to expel or even arrest the marginals. The interaction I had with them was a very enriching experience and had a significant impact on the final outcome of my project, which was originally intended to simply portray the daily life of this gang in this abandoned building. Knowing the individual stories of each of them allowed me to conclude that all of them, in one way or another, were forced into a life of marginalization by society itself. Stealing to survive and using drugs was not a free and conscious choice. On the other hand, I witnessed an almost fraternal bond between them that I didn’t expect to find when dealing with individuals who have been forced to lead solitary lives to survive. They help each other, share whatever food and drugs they can find, and look out for each other when they’re burning up with malaria All of this added additional layers of information that enriched my narrative and turned it into a sociological study that would never have been possible without this personal involvement.
Q: Your work highlights some of the most crucial and pressing issues in today’s world. How do you balance technical precision with the raw emotion needed to create a powerful, thought-provoking image?
That’s an excellent question! It’s not an easy balance to strike, not least because photography in these conditions is extremely difficult from a technical and emotional standpoint, as well as from a safety standpoint, as I mentioned earlier. I think that experience is the most important factor in being able to carry out these kinds of projects technically, without my emotional side in any way affecting the way I see my subjects or the narrative I want to convey. But I have to admit that sometimes I can’t remain indifferent to what’s going on in front of me.
Q: Photography has the ability to raise awareness, shift perspectives, and even inspire action. What role do you believe visual storytelling plays in addressing global challenges?
“Photography can change the world” is a motto I adopted a few years ago, and it has been an important driver of my work to this day. I truly believe that photography can play a very important role in solving global challenges because, as Confucius said, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. The visual impact and meaning of a documentary or photojournalistic photograph that effectively tells a powerful story has the capacity to awaken consciences and change the way people see the world and review their position in it.
Q: Your winning image is a reflection of an important moment or reality—how do you approach the responsibility of documenting such impactful stories?
I believe that all documentary photographers should have this responsibility or have this goal always present in their work. By its very nature, this type of photography should tell stories about important realities or address current issues that can arouse public interest and inspire action. That’s what drives me when I’m looking for a theme for a new project, even if it takes a long time or I have to take some risks to make it happen.
Q: Looking ahead, are there any social or environmental themes you feel compelled to explore further through your work?
I intend to continue in the direction of my work in recent years, exploring themes that allow me to denounce injustices or social asymmetries. I have gradually abandoned the individual image in favor of projects of some length and depth, which allow me to present a more solid and structured narrative. I’m currently developing projects about people who are marginalized because of their physical or social condition, and about the lives of people who work in almost subhuman conditions in order to survive. They all deserve to have their stories told because they have remained unknown to some and ignored by others.
Q: What motivates you to continue capturing the world through your lens, and where do you hope to take your work in the future?
I’ve reached a point in my photographic career where I see my work as a real mission. I’m not interested in portraying beauty or what is organized and works perfectly. For that, it’s enough to travel to a beautiful place, look around and shoot. Instead, I’m interested in another world, one that is unknown or ignored by most people. I want to know and tell the stories that happen there, because my work will serve a greater purpose: to denounce the inhumane way in which men, women and children live and work, in the hope that my photography will be heard and will provoke action, even if it is only a small drop in the ocean.