TITLE: Children of a forgotten world

They are children like all the others, but these seem to have been predestined to a cruel and unjust fate. They were born and live in a dump, they know nothing but a gray, silent world inhabited by flies. They've never seen the sea or rivers, they only know rain. The vacant, sad look in their eyes shows that they are no longer real children and that their world seems to have been forgotten by all of us

AUTHOR: João Coelho (Portugal)

I was born in Angola, but the war of independence in that country forced my family to restart their lives in Portugal in the mid-70s, where I graduated in Law, developed an important part of my professional career in law and banking, and where I took my first steps into the world of photography. In 2007, responding to a strong call from my homeland, I returned to Angola where I am still living and working on auditing and consulting projects focused on the modernization and institutional development of the public sector. The demands of my professional activity and perhaps some fear of photographing in an unsafe environment have led me, unfortunately, to turn my back to photography for quite some time. The rediscovery of that passion as I realized the variety of motives that surrounded me and the gradual release of the fears that blocked me was an extremely enriching and rewarding process. Today, whether telling stories through photography, doing curation in some groups and websites, or simply sharing experiences and achievements with a fantastic community of colleagues and friends, photography is an essential dimension in my life as a form of personal fulfillment and inspiration. My photographic work has also had the merit of shaping my way of being, having radically transformed the way I position myself in the world and how I look at everything around me. Today, after having looked into the eyes of survival and resilience, I am a simpler person, more restrained in my aspirations, and I value more the little things and the small attitudes and gestures that can change the world