Announced at the 2026 AAORIA Forum · Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
A journey across cultures, communities, and culinary traditions that bind our shared ocean
In early 2026, photographers from across the Atlantic basin were invited to capture the cultural richness and deep-rooted traditions that thrive along our shared coastlines. Today, we are thrilled to announce the winners of the second edition of the All-Atlantic Photo Competition: A Celebration of Culture and Communities.
Participants submitted photographs showcasing traditional ways of living, Indigenous knowledge, and the artistic, culinary, and social expressions that define communities along Atlantic coastlines. A diverse panel of judges evaluated each submission across five key criteria: relevance to theme, storytelling power, creativity, visual impact, and technical quality.
The winning photographs are now on display at the 2026 All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance Forum in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
The winning photographs are presented below, each accompanied by a description written by the photographer of the selected entries:
CATEGORY: Traditions Alive
🥇 First Place “Guardian of the Atlantic: Asafotufiami 2025 Purification Ceremony” — Peter Teye Busumprah
Ada, Greater Accra, Ghana, 2025
During the annual Asafotufiami Festival in Ada, a traditionally dressed Asafo warrior stands at the Atlantic shoreline, symbolically tasting the seawater. This ritual act represents spiritual purification and the ancestral duty of safeguarding Ada’s coast. Rooted in historic conflicts especially resistance against the Asante. The gesture reenacts the warriors’ pledge to defend their land and the Atlantic Ocean. Today, it reflects unity, remembrance, and the enduring strength of Ada’s people along Ghana’s Atlantic frontier.
Ke Asafotufiami Festival ngɛ Ada, Asafo hewala kɛ mi tsɔ lɛ Atlantic nyɔŋmɔ, ehaa lɛ mi hee shishi kɛ mi tsɔŋmɔ. Eyaa he nɔ ni womi ni Ada yitsoŋ lɛ mli, kɛ gbɛi hewala kɛ Asante lɛ tsɔ hee. Lɛ 2025, ehaa he nyɛŋmɔ, yihi kɛ Ada womi hewala.
🥈 Second Place “Fish Trap” — Rodrigo Campanario
Baía de Guanabara, Magé, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2023
During the harvest of a traditional fish weir in Guanabara Bay, artisanal fishers collect fish guided by the rhythm of the tides. Fish weirs are fixed traps built with wooden stakes and nets placed in coastal waters or mangroves, using tidal currents to channel fish. This ancient technique draws from Indigenous knowledge and has been preserved by coastal communities for generations. Passed from father to son, the weirs represent more than a fishing method — they are a living cultural tradition that keeps communities connected to the Atlantic and to the rhythms of the sea.
Durante a despesca de um curral de pesca na Baía de Guanabara, pescadores artesanais recolhem os peixes presos pela maré em uma técnica tradicional transmitida de geração em geração. Os currais são armadilhas fixas feitas com estacas e redes instaladas no mar ou em áreas de manguezal, que utilizam o movimento natural das marés para conduzir os peixes. Essa prática tem origens antigas, trazidas pelos saberes de povos indígenas e aperfeiçoadas por comunidades pesqueiras ao longo da história. Passados de pai para filho, os currais representam não apenas uma forma de pesca, mas um patrimônio cultural vivo que mantém comunidades ligadas ao ritmo do Atlântico e às tradições do território.
🥉 Third Place “Holy Bath” — Filipe Salgado
Esposende, Portugal, 2024
This image captures the “Banho Santo” (Holy Bath) in Esposende, a secular ritual where faith and the Atlantic Ocean meet. On the 24th of August, children are dipped into the cold ocean waves in an ancient act of purification and healing. The photograph highlights the raw interaction between the community’s spiritual beliefs and the powerful natural force of the Atlantic. It is a profound example of a living tradition shaped by the sea, reflecting the cultural identity and resilience of those living along Portugal’s northern coast.
CATEGORY: Coastal Communities and Family Ties
🥇 First Place “Pushing Off to Sea” — Filipe Salgado
Costa da Caparica, Portugal, 2025
Shot in timeless black and white, this photograph depicts the traditional “Arte Xávega” on a Portuguese beach. It shows a group of men working together to push a traditional boat into the Atlantic surf, symbolizing the strength and unity of coastal communities. This practice is a pillar of local heritage, representing a way of life that has depended on the ocean’s resources for generations. The image captures the grit, hard work, and deep connection between the people and the sea that sustains them.
🥈 Second Place “In Between Tides” — Pedro Léger Pereira
Ilulissat, Greenland, 2023
Locked in ice through the long winter, the small fishing boats rest in suspension between seasons. As the snow begins to soften and the fjord slowly prepares to thaw, a lone fisherman starts the quiet work of renewal… breaking ice, checking hulls, preparing for the return of open water. In Greenland’s coastal communities, the ocean is more than a landscape; it is a calendar, an inheritance and a livelihood. Even when frozen, it shapes daily life. This is the in-between time, when hope and labour quietly anticipate the sea’s return.
🥉 Third Place “Washerwomen’s Bay” — Rodrigo Campanario
Ilha Grande, Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2024
In the mangroves of Saco do Céu, on Ilha Grande in Rio de Janeiro, women from the same family bend together over the mud to collect clams, repeating a gesture passed down through generations. They are shellfish gatherers from a traditional community of around 200 people who rely primarily on artisanal fishing and mangrove harvesting for their livelihood. Among the tides and intertwined roots, mothers, daughters, and grandmothers share work, stories, and knowledge. Later, the shellfish will be cooked and shared collectively, turning food into gathering. In this cycle that connects harvesting, cooking, and community, female strength sustains memory, livelihood, and the continuity of life along the Atlantic shore.
No manguezal do Saco do Céu, na Ilha Grande, no Rio de Janeiro, mulheres da mesma família se abaixam juntas sobre a lama para coletar vôngoles, repetindo um gesto transmitido entre gerações. Elas são marisqueiras de uma comunidade tradicional de cerca de 200 pessoas que vive essencialmente da pesca artesanal e da coleta no mangue. Entre marés e raízes entrelaçadas, mães, filhas e avós compartilham trabalho, histórias e conhecimento. Mais tarde, os mariscos serão cozidos e partilhados coletivamente, transformando o alimento em encontro. Nesse ciclo que une coleta, cozinha e convivência, a força feminina sustenta a memória, o sustento e a continuidade da vida à beira do Atlântico.
CATEGORY: Artistic Expressions
🥇 First Place “Nanã – The Orisha” — Rodrigo Campanario
Magé, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2025
Dressed as Nanã, an orixá associated with ancestral waters, primordial mud, and mangroves in Afro-Brazilian religions, a woman dances among the mangrove trees during a ritual in Guanabara Bay. In African-rooted traditions such as Candomblé and Umbanda, orixás represent forces of nature and are honored through music, dance, and the movement of the body. In the mangrove — a territory of life, memory, and spirituality — the performance becomes both artistic expression and devotion, revealing how the Atlantic also shapes imagination, rituals, and living cultures along the shores of Brazil.
Vestida como Nanã, orixá associada às águas ancestrais, à lama primordial e aos manguezais nas religiões afro-brasileiras, uma mulher dança entre as árvores do mangue durante um ritual na Baía de Guanabara. Nas tradições de matriz africana, como o Candomblé e a Umbanda, os orixás representam forças da natureza e são celebrados por meio da música, da dança e do corpo em movimento. No manguezal — território de vida, memória e espiritualidade — a performance se torna expressão artística e devoção, revelando como o Atlântico também molda imaginários, rituais e culturas vivas nas margens do Brasil.
🥈 Second Place “Atlantic Memories in the Net” — Filipe Salgado
Vila do Conde, Portugal, 2025
This photograph celebrates the creative spirit of Atlantic communities by showing a creative repurposing of fishing tools. An elderly woman stands by a fishing net that has been transformed into a vertical gallery of memories, displaying photographs of the local maritime life. It is a beautiful example of folk art and craftsmanship inspired by the sea, where objects of labor become vessels for storytelling and heritage preservation. The image reflects how the Atlantic influences not just the economy, but the very way people express their history and identity.
🥉 Third Place “A Deadly Art” — Michele Ivone-Formica Rodríguez
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain, 2026
This sculpture pays tribute to the fisherman from La Isleta, once a prominent fishing neighbourhood of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands. It represents all the fishermen that lost their lives carrying out the art of fishing, a deadly form of art that with the passage of time has also succumbed to its own death due to new forms of life. It is a powerful reminder of keeping our traditions alive and remembering the people that fight in keeping them that way, even if it means risking their own lives.
CATEGORY: Tastes of the Atlantic
🥇 First Place “Winter’s Harvest” — Pedro Léger Pereira
Northern Norway, 2025
In the remote Arctic villages, winter brings a surreal sight: clotheslines replaced by drying cod, the region’s iconic harvest hanging in the icy air. For outsiders, it seems strange, even whimsical, yet this centuries-old practice sustains families and celebrates a deep connection to the sea. Each fish glistens in the pale sunlight, a testament to local knowledge, resilience, and the enduring culinary traditions of communities shaped by the harsh Arctic.
🥈 Second Place “Ancestral Crab” — Rodrigo Campanario
Magé, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2023
Dona Almirena Couto cooks a pot of crabs in Quilombo do Feital, a community formed by descendants of enslaved Africans who keep their territories and traditional knowledge alive. On the edge of the mangroves of Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro, this ecosystem remains a source of food, livelihood, and identity. As the community’s griô, she is the guardian of memories, stories, and knowledge passed down through generations. While preparing the freshly caught crabs, she also preserves the tradition of taboa, a mangrove plant used in local handicrafts. Between the steam rising from the pot and the smell of the mud, her kitchen reveals how the Atlantic shapes living cultures.
Almirena Couto cozinha uma panela de caranguejos no Quilombo do Feital, comunidade formada por descendentes de africanos escravizados que mantêm vivos seus territórios e saberes. À beira do manguezal da Baía de Guanabara, no Rio de Janeiro, esse ecossistema segue sendo fonte de alimento, trabalho e identidade. Griô da comunidade, ela é guardiã das memórias, histórias e conhecimentos transmitidos entre gerações. Enquanto prepara o caranguejo recém-pescado, preserva também a tradição da taboa, planta do mangue usada no artesanato local. Entre o vapor da panela e o cheiro da lama, sua cozinha revela como o Atlântico molda culturas vivas.
🥉 Third Place “Savoring the Sea: The Flavours of Fresh Atlantic Fish in West Africa and the Entrepreneurial Spirit of Women” — Peter Teye Busumprah
Tema Landing Beach, Ghana, 2026
At Tema Landing Beach, a vibrant scene unfolds as women line the shoreline, selling freshly caught fish brought in by local fishermen. Their lively conversations and smiles reflect not only their entrepreneurial spirit but also the crucial role women play in sustaining their communities’ livelihoods. This bustling market scene highlights the cultural importance of fishing and trading in Tema, showcasing the resilience, resourcefulness, and vibrant spirit of the local women.
Wɔ Tema Landing Beach no, mmea bi de wɔn ho hyɛ nkɔsoɔ, wɔde afifideɛ a nnompefoɔ no abɛto ne fam no retɔ. Saa nneɛma yi no, ɛkyerɛ sɛ, mmea no di dwuma titiriw wɔ wɔn kurom ne wɔn abusua mu, na ɛda ho adi sɛ, wɔwɔ tumi ne nkɔsoɔ mu. Saa mfoni no kyerɛ sɛ, Tema yɛ kurom a ɔwɔ amammerɛ ne nkɔsoɔ mu, na mmea no yɛ nkɔsoɔfoɔ.
Honourable Mentions
Seven additional photographs received honourable mentions for their outstanding contribution to our visual story of Atlantic cultures. These images will join the category winners in the digital photo book and online showcase.
