Sneak peek: Africa correspondent Saskia Houttuin and I are working on a new interactive story for Dutch broadcaster VPRO. In two chapters filled with audio, video, texts and photography, we look at two perspectives on the deadly conflict between herdsmen and farmers in Nigeria. The two stories, created with the Slices storytelling tool, will be published on VPRO’s Bureau Buitenland platform in November.
Website update: photojournalism, NGO photography and more
You’re looking at the 3.0 version of my website! You can now find selected photography work on my Photography page, sorted in four different categories: photojournalism, NGO photography, travel photography and corporate photography assignments. On these pages, you can find some yet-to-be-published work created for The Guardian newspaper and Dutch broadcaster VPRO.
Also, my blog page is now called ‘Recent work’, you can find a list of clients on this page and I have added a separate page dedicated to video assignments for companies like Simyo and RTL Nieuws.
New work: video for the British HM Government
For a video I created for the British HM Government, Pallavi Singh and I interviewed Kenyan innovator Bernard Chiira, about his innovative accelerator program 'Innovate Now', which should benefit Kenya's disability sector. The HMG Africa Campaigns Hub shared the video on their social platforms - on Twitter, the video has been watched over 3.000 times. To watch the vid, click on the ‘play’ icon on the still above.
To see more videos I have created for Simyo, Amref, RTL Nieuws and others, click here.
Photography for The Africanists: read Koert Lindijer's story about Kenyan governor Kibwana
After the initial publication of Africa Correspondent Koert Lindijer’s article in Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, the English version of the article on Kenyan Governor Kibwana is now also featured on The Africanists website. To read the story and see some of my never before published photographs, you can click on the link below. To read more about the Dutch version of the article, you can read this blogpost.
Net 5 Ladies Night and AD talk show appearances: Tob Cohen murder case
Yesterday evening and this morning I made appearances on two Dutch talk shows, to answer some questions about the much talked about Tob Cohen murder case. Cohen, who was found tortured and murdered in a sceptic tank near his Nairobi home, was missing for weeks before his mortal remains were found. His wife Sarah W.K. is the prime suspect in the murder case.
I first talked about the case in the pilot episode of Net 5 TV show ‘Ladies Night’, presented by Merel Westrik. Crime journalist Jessica Vilerius, Linda de Mol, Fidan Ekiz and Dutch popstar Roxeanne Hazes also joined the conversation. This morning, I talked about the same subject on ‘De Ochtendshow To Go’, which is broadcasted daily on the online platform of Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad. The video can also be seen underneath this news article.
Goodwill Dumping: VARA Gids Interview
What happens when the lid of the container slams shut and our donated clothes embark on their global journey? That’s the main question film maker Teddy Cherim and fashion designer Lisa Konno wanted to answer in their BNNVARA documentary ‘Goodwill Dumping’.
Teddy and Lisa are literally following the massive amounts of donated clothing, which are sold many times before they end up on the ‘mitumba’ markets of Kenya. For an article in the Dutch VARA Gids magazine, I spoke with Teddy and Lisa when they shot Lisa’s ‘fashion creatures’ on Nairobi’s Gikomba Market.
You can read the article through Blendle, or click on the image below. ‘Goodwill Dumping’ will be premiering on the NFF, the Dutch Film Festival, and will air on Dutch TV station NPO3, Sunday 29 November at 00.10 o’clock.
Front page portfolio feature: Kibera Stories photographer Brian Otieno
For Msafiri, the inflight magazine of Kenya Airways, I have interviewed Brian Otieno, arguably one of Nairobi’s most talented photographers. Brian, who is also known as ‘Storitellah’ and is the main man behind the much awarded Kibera Stories account, told me why he photographs Kibera in the way he does. As he was born in the huge Nairobi slum, he has a unique perspective that he shares with the world through social media outlets like Instagram.
“When I document a fire outbreak or houses that were washed away by the rains, people don’t get angry at me and my camera; they want their plight to be documented because maybe someone out there will want to extend a helping hand. That’s the power of photography: it can change lives.”
You can read the interview here, on the website of KQ’s Msafiri! If you’d like to read more about my work for Msafiri, you can check out this blogpost about my cover shot for the November 2018 edition, click here to read my Ethiopia travel story or read my recent Uganda travel story here.
Photography for De Volkskrant: genetically modified mosquitos in Burkina Faso
‘Target Malaria’ is the Gates Foundation-backed organization that wants to genetically modify mosquitoes in order to combat malaria. In the small village of Bana, Burkina Faso, researchers are looking to change mosquito DNA, so that the mosquitos that can transfer malaria can only give birth to male baby mosquitoes, which will eventually mean that one type of malaria spreading mosquito will die out.
The plans of Target Malaria are contested. Western countries, where malaria is causing many people to die, have their doubts about ‘GMO’s’, ‘Genetically Modified Organisms’. Dutch biologist and journalist Hidde Boersma wrote about Target Malaria’s plans and efforts, and what it will mean if they are allowed to genetically modify mosquitoes in Burkina Faso.
For Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, I’ve staid in Burkina Faso for over a week, in order to take pictures that are published with Hidde’s story. With Karsten de Vreugd and René Hoeksema, we have also filmed bits of interviews that can be viewed in an extensive online production on De Volkskrant website. For a behind-the-scenes glimpse of our activities in Ouagadougou, Bobo-Dioulasso and Bana, you can check out this pinned Instagram Story!
Photography for NRC Handelsblad: Makueni Governor Kibwana portrayed
For Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, I met up with Kivutha Kibwana, the Governor of Kenya’s Makueni County (and presidential candidate for the upcoming 2022 presidential elections in Kenya). NRC’s Africa correspondent Koert Lindijer wrote a story about Kibwana and his county leadership. Under his rule, Makueni became the county with the lowest corruption level in Kenya. That has a lot to do with the installation of the People’s Committee, which is involved with every government project in the county.
I spent a day with Governor Kibwana and his young team members, while he had meetings at his office and while he paid a vist to the Makueni Mother and Child Hospital, which counts as the finished flagship project over the Governor. Apart from health, the story of Koert also focuses on water management, and so I also took pictures of the Kwa Mbila Dam, where county residents can get water close to their homes, for a low, fixed price per filled jerrycan.
You can read the story about Governor Kibwana on the website of NRC Handelsblad. To read what NRC Handelsblad previously wrote about my Instagram page, click here.
The New Humanitarian featured my Rwanda story
At least 800.000 people were killed in the genocide that tore Rwanda apart, exactly 25 years ago. Victims were mainly Tutsis and moderate Hutus, often murdered by friends and neighbors, following the outbreak of inter-ethnic violence which lasted 100 days.
Nowadays, in the southern village of Mbyo, survivors and perpetrators live together in a ‘reconciliation village’, established by the non- governmental organisation Prison Fellowship Rwanda. Genocide survivor Jacqueline Mukamana lives next door to Mathias Sendegeya, a genocide perpetrator who killed six of Jacqueline’s family members. Yet, they are friends.
In Mbyo, I photographed and interviewed Mathias and Jacqueline about the events of 25 years ago, and how they have found a way to live next door to each other. That story is published by The New Humanitarian, an online platform that puts quality, independent journalism at the service of the millions of people affected by humanitarian crises around the world. They report from the heart of conflicts and disasters to inform prevention and response.
MENDO Books I have worked on as their Editorial Coordinator
The Amsterdam flagship store of MENDO has highlighted all the 33 photography books that MENDO has initiated and created through the years. From 2016 onwards, I have been on board as their (freelance) Editorial Coordinator, working on 11 of the books that were published since. In this blog post, you can find all the photo books that boast my name in the colophon:
Starring Amsterdam. Created all texts and links to online documentation;
Depart. All texts, including introduction and interviews. Also includes a chapter with pictures I took in Jordan, Palestine and Israel;
Carli Hermès. Interviews with Narda van ‘t Veer and Fokke de Jong;
The Workshop. Editorial Coordination and redirecting;
Living in Style Amsterdam. Editorial Coordination and texts;
Sportret. Editorial Coordination and texts;
This is Not a F*cking Street Style Book. Editorial Coordination and redirecting;
Streets of New York, Streets of Amsterdam & Streets of Paris. Selecting and reaching out to all photographers, selecting photography & Editorial Coordination;
Martin Garrix: Life = Crazy. Interviews with Martin Garrix’s team members, managers, parents and friends;
If you’d like to find out more about the books that I have worked on, including some non-MENDO books, you can check out the Books tab of this website.
Cyclone Idai: our reports for RTL & Al Jazeera.
Cyclone Idai, which hit Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe on 14 March, caused massive flooding and killed more than 840 people. Together with Africa correspondent Saskia Houttuin, I traveled to the town of Beira, which was hit severely by both the cyclone and the floods.
During our stay in Mozambique, we reported on the Idai aftermath, when thousands of people still needed to be rescued from nearby, flooded areas. You can find some of our reports on Saskia’s YouTube channel, read this Dutch story (with one of my images) or you can check out the video below. I also created a visual story in words and pictures for Al Jazeera.
If you’d like to help: the International Red Cross and NGO’s like Caritas (that used some of my images for funding and blog updates) are still on the ground in Mozambique, to deliver aid for those in need.
New assignments and features added
On the ‘Features’ tab of my website, you can see some of my assignments, collaborations, publications and features. I have recently added new work and assignments, like my piece for Musotrees Magazine, the collaboration between NPO Radio 1 program De Nieuws BV and me, a Telegraaf interview and more.
On the ‘Features’ page, you can click on each logo to find out more.