Shortlist, When the Ocean Beats the River by Felipe Fittipaldi

Located in the delta of the Paraíba do Sul, one of the most important rivers in south-east Brazil, Atafona is a small town that has been invaded by the sea. In recent decades, the ocean has risen and submerged much of this community. Its dunes conceal about 400 buildings, among them public offices, residential blocks, hotels, a gas station and a church. Factors including climate change, geological features, and the disastrous human interventions all along the riverbed, have made Atafona the most significant case of coastal erosion in Brazil. The photographs portray the complex relationship between a community and an environment that is at once intimate and ruthless. It is defined by dependency and destruction.