Eduarda lives with seven siblings in one of the abandoned apartment blocks of ‘Jambalaya’ in Campo Grande, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Pastor Manoel, who lives in one of the squatted buildings, points out a hall area that collapsed one night. No one was hurt, but the buildings are corroded and decaying after years of exposure to the elements.

Edilane with Daniel, Davi and Esther, three of her seven children, rest on a mattress on the floor in one of the occupied buildings. Edilane has set up a small internet store in the buildings, constructing computers for the store by salvaging parts from around ten old ones. This brings in around US $5 daily.

A horse, which died after being stung by bees, outside the apartment blocks.

Domingo (foreground) came to Brazil from Angola in search of a better life, and lives with Lourdes (cooking) and her five children in one of the occupied buildings.

People living in the abandoned apartment blocks try to make the space livable.

Debora (right) sits with her boyfriend Luis Carlos. She has been living in the ‘Jambalaya’ apartments for three-and-a-half years, ever since her father—an Evangelical Christian who could not accept her transsexuality—threw her out of the family home.

Elaine stands behind a door curtain in the unfinished two-bedroom apartment she occupies with her mother and daughter.

Children play among abandoned cars.

A boy flies a kite from the roof of one of the apartment blocks.

People,2nd prize

Praying for a Miracle