Sport 1st Place

The Kuarup is a ritual of the Xingu Indigenous Brazilian to honour the illustrious dead – it is the farewell and closing of a mourning period. The celebration takes place once a year in different villages and lasts for three days. The highlight of this celebration is a competition of a martial art called Huka-huka, similar to the Greco-Roman wrestling fight, which has competitive symbolism that shows the strength and virility of the young men. These photographs were taken during a Kuarup celebration in the Afukuri village of the Kuikuro ethnic group. This year’s ritual honoured the people who lost their lives between the years 2020 and 2021: four of five were victims of Covid-19.

Freelance photographer, born in Porto Alegre, Brazil, who since 1994 works in the city of São Paulo in the areas of photojournalism and corporate documentation. Author of the books Saga and Terras de Preto, he stands out among different awards, the Sony Awards in 2014 in the Travel category. The photographer's various projects belong to important Brazilian photography collections and his work has been exhibited in museums and galleries in several Brazilian capitals, in Africa, Europe and the United States.