11th Carmignac Photojournalism Award

Congo in Conversation

Congo in Conversation

Raissa Karama Rwizibuka

Raissa Karama Rwizibuka is a Congolese photographer living in Bukavu in South Kivu province and a contributor to the Kitoko Oyo project of Focus Congo. She is 23 years old. Nature, art and cultural diversity are her passions. She wants to portray another image of African and Congolese youth through photography.

Bukavu, DRC, May 2020. Women do each other's hair in the eastern Congolese city of Bukavu during Coronavirus confinement. © Raissa Rwizibuka Karama for Fondation Carmignac

Economy

Congo Embraces Traditional Hairstyles Amid the Pandemic

In normal times, Alice Kasanani’s salon styles the hair of around ten women daily in the eastern Congolese city of...

byRaissa Karama Rwizibukaand1 others

December 21, 2020

Bukavu, DRC, August 2020 Sapeur Chrispin Floribert Sumaili, 25, shows off his style on a street in the eastern Congolese city of Bukavu this month. Raissa Karama Rwizibuka for Fondation Carmignac

Health

Congo’s Innovative Coronavirus Fashion

Perhaps nowhere has the unwelcome pandemic accessory of the facemask been so enthusiastically embraced as by Congo’s famous "Sapeurs", for...

byRaissa Karama Rwizibuka

August 20, 2020

Bukavu, DRC, May 2020. Anglebert Maurice Kakuja, 29, a Sapeur, or Congolese dandy, shows off his fashion sense while wearing a homemade mask in the eastern Congolese city of Bukavu this week. Sapeurs take their name from the acronym for their group: SAPE, meaning Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes, or "elegant persons who create ambience". © Raissa Karama Rwizibuka for Fondation Carmignac

Health

Masks ward off police harassment, and coronavirus

The facemask has become a visual signifier of the social contract between an individual and society during the coronavirus pandemic....

byRaissa Karama Rwizibukaand1 others