Professional finalists and shortlist: first look

The Tokyo Toilet Project is an urban redevelopment project in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan that involves the design and construction of modern public restrooms that encourages their use. The distinctive buildings are as much works of art as they are a public convenience. These images are part of a larger body of work documenting the architectural aesthetics of these structures in their urban environment.

In April 2022, Irina Shkoda left Ukraine for France. As a refugee, she entered a culture that was entirely foreign to her, which required her to adapt, to speak a new language, to submit to new rules: to lose parts of herself in order to be accepted. Through this project, she explores her personal experience of hospitality, both given and received. According to the philosopher Jacques Derrida, hospitality has a dual aspect: ethical and political. It includes a power dynamic and an underlying violence. The guest – by their presence – imposes an Otherness that can unsettle or even transform their host. To make space in one’s home is to risk no longer being at home. Yet hospitality also holds the potential to transcend these tensions. It is an act of courage and faith – a gesture that dares to imagine unity despite all odds. Concepts in psychology highlight that boundaries are essential for preserving our integrity, but welcoming The Other is to open those boundaries, even if just for a moment. How can we trust, despite everything, The Other who surpasses us? How can we let The Other in, knowing we may never understand?

‘If I had been born at the top of my street, behind the corrugated-iron border, I would have been British. Incredible to think. My whole idea of myself, the attachments made to a culture, heritage, religion, nationalism and politics are all an accident of birth. I was one street away from being born my “enemy.”’ Paul McVeigh, Belfast-born novelist. Binder notes ‘there is hardly any other country in Europe where a past conflict is still as present in daily life as it is in Northern Ireland.’ It is not only the physical barriers – the walls and fences – but also the psychological divisions in society. For many years, Toby Binder has been documenting what it means for young people, all of whom were born after the peace agreement was signed, to grow up under this intergenerational tension in both Protestant and Catholic neighbourhoods.

Tunisia stands as a fragile microcosm, where desert sands encroach on fertile lands and the sea’s rising tides reshape coastlines. Shaped by rhythms of erosion and renewal, survival here depends on a delicate equilibrium. Human connection to the land runs deep, rooted in traditions passed through generations with care and continuity. This project examines the interplay between shifting landscapes, enduring traditions and human resilience. It explores the unseen rhythms that tie us to the forces shaping our world, asking whether solutions lie in mastering nature or returning to harmony with it. Viewing the climate crisis as a continuous transformation, the series reflects on vulnerability and survival, and how resilience may emerge from rediscovering our connections to the natural world.

Brazil saw its hottest year in 2024. Although the high temperatures affected all regions of the country, three biomes were especially impacted, with drought, fire and deforestation transforming the landscape into apocalyptic scenes. In the Amazon, extreme drought turned some of the planet's most powerful rivers into sand deserts. This also fuelled forest fires, with 134,979 fires recorded in the region in the first 11 months of the year – the highest since 2007. The Pantanal, the largest tropical wetland on the planet, also faced a historic drought due to human activity and climate change, while the Cerrado – considered the most biodiverse savanna in the world and the birthplace of most of the country's river basins – experienced increasingly high deforestation rates driven by agribusiness.

This project aims to give an account of the Indigenous Mbyá Guaraní community, Tekoa El Chapá, which is located in Misiones, Argentina. These Indigenous communities inhabit southern Brazil, parts of Paraguay and Misiones in northeast Argentina. Their mother tongue is Mbyá, which can be translated as ‘people’ or ‘many people in one place.’ Their worldview is shaped by the land, and they view themselves and each other as extensions of the environment around them, brought to life by Nanderú, ‘The Creator.’ They preserve a traditional way of life called ‘tekoa,’ which refers to a territory where the ‘teko’ – the Guaraní ‘way of being’ – is practiced (agriculture, hunting, fishing and spirituality in harmony with the land). Their history and existence depend exclusively on collective and shared memory, emphasising the ‘community’ that is fundamental for their survival.

This series was inspired by the photographer’s memories of collecting a series of old postage stamps with horses on them. Trust Me explores the trust between an animal and a person, with photographs taken in different countries to reflect the diversity of cultures, clothing, and the characters of both the people and their horses. To date, the series covers four countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India and Nepal – but the photographer’s dream is to include a photograph from every country in the world.

The inspiration for anSCHEIN (Semblance) was the sun shining through the old glass windows of Miriam Bräutigam’s study, drawing shadows of objects on the curtains. The position of the sun, the incidence of light and the translucency of objects on the windowsill had very different effects that fascinated the photographer, who began to experiment with compositions of everyday objects illuminated by the sun. The resulting photographs elevate the individual objects into something surreal, mystical and mysterious, inviting the viewer to ask: what is behind it all?

India, the world's most populous country with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, only has a handful of female skaters. It is here that Shred the Patriarchy comes to life, portraying how – against prejudice and threats – some women have rebelled, balancing on a board and transforming skateboarding into a form of resistance against the patriarchy. Through the art of falling and getting back up, these women challenge stereotypes, fight marginalisation and reclaim public spaces in both urban and rural areas. Many have managed to avoid arranged marriages, while others have gained financial independence and earn respect within their communities by skateboarding. It is with these simple yet revolutionary gestures that young Indian women make the patriarchal system tremble, reclaiming the freedom to imagine something different for themselves: to be a voice and no longer an echo.

The variety of hummingbirds in Peru is incredible, with more than 100 species recorded. This series photographs these birds in action, most of them at full speed, capturing split-second moments that were once impossible to record.

With a small number of trained midwives, Afghanistan has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. The country is facing a humanitarian crisis, with high poverty, food shortages and fluctuations in foreign aid. Further, in December 2024, the Taliban banned women from midwifery courses. The situation is especially dire in the Northeastern province of Badakhshan, a remote mountain region with poor roads and minimal medical infrastructure. This series tells the story of Afghan midwives who struggle to save the lives of mothers and newborn babies living with insufficient medical care. The photographer has previously documented the work of midwives in different parts of the world such as Bolivia and Japan, and feels a sense of urgency in bringing public awareness to the crucial role of midwives in Afghanistan’s complex environment.