Photojournalism is specific to a historical moment. But it also transcends that moment to become a part of a lasting testament to our condition.
I think of the gazes of people of color who have stared beyond the myriad wars that the world has embraced as causes and then, just as quickly, forgot. A family flees to South Sudan after their village is bombed, and a young girl flees Somalia after the terrorist group Al Shabaab kills her husband for allowing her to play soccer. Young boys who have fled from Congo, create a life for themselves in a forgotten border camp in Rwanda. A little Syrian girl lives defiantly with a bullet lodged in her cerebrum.
There are times when I wonder whether or not our empathy is little more than a button that can be turned on and then off again when the politics are no longer convenient. And yet, the gazes of those who many would like to render invisible somehow persist — an emotional power that defies erasure. They are the undefeated. Click on any image to enlargeto slideshow
A village fled the war in Sudan’s Blue Nile State have just arrived to camp in South SudanFleeing with everything they have away from fighting in SudanA village with all the belongings they own prepares to make camp while fleeing war in Sudan’s Blue Nile State.A man who lost his family due to ethnic clashes in South Sudan gives praise to AllahCongolese refugee boys playing soccer in a camp in RwandaMaymun Muhyadine Mohamed loved to play football in the streets of Mogadishu. She was awarded medals for her talent. Then the terrorist groups Al Shabab killed her husband for allowing her to play.Sudanese boys and girls make toys from tin cans while seeking refuge n South Sudan.Decades ago, FC Barcelona partnered with UNHCR to build football fields for displaced children in Rwanda. And while the fields are in disrepair, they still serve a vial source of recreation for thousands of children. Cogolese refugees living in Malawi mix humor with defiance.An insurgent checkpoint on the border between Sudan and South Sudan.An Ethiopian man with all of his belonging prepares to move by boat to Yemen then by foot to Saudi Arabia in hope of finding work.Just after walking more than 100 miles from her home in Sudan, she Aliya makes time to keep herself beautiful. A little girl from Somalia receives a measles vaccination upon arriving to Kenya.Boys at play South Sudan10-year-old Sundos was shot in the head by a sniper in the Syrian village of Jassim. She lives each day with the bullet still lodged in her cerebrum.A 6-year-old boy weeps in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.An Ethiopian woman wears her finest clothes after traveeling thousands of miles to Calais, France. On this night, she will attempt the crossing to England by stowing away in the back of a truck.
