Tuesday, May 26, 2015

The Culture Centre (Dom Kulture) in Pilica.

Around 500 innocent people were killed at this cultural centre in July 1995, including the twin brother of my friend Hasan Hasanovic.
Inside the Pilica Cultural Centre where around 500 men and boys, including Hasan's twin brother, were killed.  
#genocide #neveragain #photography #nikon #d810#documentary #photojournalism #reportage #d4 #webster #nikonpro #fifdh #marsmira #srebrenicagenocide #bosnia #srebrenica #sandefjord #potocari #sb #norway #norge #fotograf #webster #pilica

Srebrenica: Execution site; Lazete 1 and Lazete 2

"A large group of the prisoners who had been held overnight in Bratunac were bussed in a convoy of 30 vehicles to the Grbavci school in Orahovac early in the morning of 14 July 1995. When they got there, the school gym was already half-filled with prisoners who had been arriving since the early morning hours and, within a few hours, the building was full. Survivors estimated that there were 2,000 to 2,500 men there, some of them very young and some quite elderly, although the ICTY Prosecution suggested this may have been an over-estimation and that the number of prisoners at this site was probably closer to 1,000. Some prisoners were taken outside and killed. At some point, a witness recalled, General Mladić arrived and told the men: "Well, your government does not want you, and I have to take care of you." - Wikipedia
Hasan Hasanovic near the Lazeta 1 and 2 fields.
Grbavci School. Only the marks, the four crew holes, from the Memorial plaque can be seen as the actual plaque describing what happened here has been removed. 
#genocide #neveragain #photography #nikon #d810#documentary #photojournalism #reportage #d4 #webster #nikonpro #fifdh #marsmira #srebrenicagenocide #bosnia #srebrenica #sandefjord #potocari #sb #norway #norge #fotograf #webster

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

The boy in Musha

Going with my friend John to his village, Musha, we went to a field in order to see where he had been with his cousin, little brother and grandmother in 1994. This little boy was curious about what we were doing there...
The boy in the field, Musha, Rwanda, 2014
#genocide #storytelling #humanrights #photojournalism #documentary #potocari #july11 #20years #nikon #d4 #reportage #d810  #lifeaftergenocide #humanrights #postwar #rwanda #neveragain #africa #photography #d810 #d4 #58f14g #kigali #webster #reverienrurangwa #nikonpro #bisesero #webster #rwandagenocide #april7 

Boy at Kimoronko Market

Going through lots of work and then I was reminded about the boy I met the Kimoronko Market on my first visit to Rwanda. It was great having a guide that took me through everywhere... At the end I had a flag/ scarf as a souvenir.
The Market Boy from Kimirionko
#genocide #storytelling #humanrights #photojournalism #documentary #potocari #july11 #20years #nikon #d4 #reportage #d810  #lifeaftergenocide #humanrights #postwar #rwanda #neveragain #africa #photography #d810 #d4 #kigali #webster #reverienrurangwa #nikonpro #bisesero #webster #rwandagenocide #april7 

Monday, May 11, 2015

Reverien: Home. Back home again, 20 years later.

Révéraien Rurangwa, a good friend, a Genocide survivor and a travel companion is back at his place, his home, in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the small town in the canton of Neuchâtel. The pictures bellow shows some of the moments we spent together when we went back and visited his home village of Mugina, about an hour outside of Kigali. Just over 20 years before, on April 20th 1994, 43 members of his closest family was brutally murdered in the Rwandan genocide. This short photo essay is short listed for the EWZ, Swiss Photo Award. The opening is this coming Wednesday at 17:00, in Zurich http://www.facebook.com/swissphotoaward 
Révéraien at home, in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the first time we met.
Reverien, Kigali, Rwanda, January 2015
Not being dead, Reverien walked across the strewn bodies to a nearby fruit garden. Meeting the killers, he begged also to be killed. Instead, they cut his eye out.
At home. Again in Mugina. 
20 years later, a new generation plays outside the house.
With what is left of family, at the house in Kigali. 
Reverien met Janvier Uwumukiza when both were at the same red cross hospital in 1994. She was 11. She had been thrown into a very deep pit. As a result, she is paralysed from neck and down. Only a little bit of movement in her left arm remains. Still, she greeted us at her house in Kibungo near the boarder to Tanzania. She had a big smile, make up and new, pink, nails. But life is not easy. She prefers her room to stay rather dark, has a small TV set for entertainment and of course help with just about everything. She has been 20 years in bed. She can not move at all. Not even to be take outside.
This is what Janvier Uwumukiza sees from her bed. 
Révérien at home in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
#rwanda #genocide #neveragain #africa #photography #nikon #d810 #documentary #photojournalism #reportage #d4 #kigali #webster #reverienrurangwa #nikonpro #kibungo #webster #rwandagenocide #ewzselection #ewz #swissphotoaward