Arlette Bashizi, WorldPress Photo Honorable Mention 2024 for the Africa region
18 April 2024
We are delighted to learn that Arlette Bashizi, one of the photojournalists participating in the collaborative project Congo In Conversation (2020-2021) supported by the Carmignac Foundation, has just won this award. The Congolese photographer was honored for a series entitled “Survivors”, shot in the Tigray region of Ethiopia for the Washington Post.
The civil war that broke out in the region in 2020 has had devastating effects: an estimated 600,000 people have died and millions more are internally displaced and facing acute famine. The region, already struggling with poverty and political instability, was cut off from the outside world and pushed to the brink by the violence and chaos of war.
Amidst the horrors of conflict, a silent and insidious crisis has developed: sexual violence against women. Concrete, verifiable data is scarce, not only because it is difficult to gather information in conflict zones, but also because the Ethiopian government has imposed a communications embargo. However, an in-depth study by researchers at Columbia University suggests that over 100,000 women may have been victims of sexual violence during the conflict.
Arlette Bashizi is a documentary photographer and photojournalist born in 1999 in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo, and currently based in Goma where she has been working on various projects and features since 2018. Arlette documents the daily life of her community, using her camera to denounce the injustices experienced on a daily basis. She focuses on issues related to health, the environment and culture, keeping women and young people at the center of her work.
Shila (32) sits with others at a site for internally displaced persons where she is sheltering with her family. Fighting began in the northern region of Tigray in 2020, but soon spread to the whole north. During this conflict, tens of thousands of women were raped.Mekele, Ethiopia.. — © ARLETTE BASHIZI / KEYSTONE
