Hosted by the Visualising War and Peace project at the University of St Andrews, this photography exhibition showcases the courageous work of women fighting to restore peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Through a series of colourful images and portraits, award-winning photographer Hugh Kinsella Cunningham shines a light on this forgotten conflict. The project is unique in its effort to document the slow work of peace and the determination of women who advocate for human rights, justice and security in their conflict-affected communities. We hope that it encourages visitors to reflect on individual and collective habits of visualising war and peace, and to look at peace-building from new perspectives.
You can browse a selection of photographs from the exhibition below. Each image has a story behind it; Hugh Kinsella Cunningham has worked with Camille Maubert and Sifa Bahati to gather first-hand testimony from women peace activists in Congo, and the photographs are intrinsically tied to the accompanying text. As Hugh notes in his reflections on peace photography, ‘this photography project is intended to create a history, both visual and oral, of war and peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo, across generations and across multiple cycles of conflict, told by those who know it best.’
You can read more about war and peace reporting in Congo here, and we share some reflections about wider habits of visualising peace and peace-building – and the impact of images on local, national and global politics – in our ‘Picturing Peace‘ section. A fuller selection of photographs and testimony from Hugh’s project can be accessed via these two articles, published in National Geographic in 2022 and The Guardian in 2023. His winning selection in the Sony World Photography Awards 2023 can be found here. We share our exhibition booklet with further material and reflections below.
Led by peace activist Liberata Buratwa, displaced women Sophie, Concelata, Genereuse and Elizabeth meet with…
Congolese Republican Guard tank units head North to the frontlines at Kibumba to repel an…
Nama Fenerenda and Georgette Ngabusi lead their women’s association walk back to Savo displacement site…
A wedding procession in the hills of Kaniola, Walungu, South Kivu Province, November 27th 2022….
Marie, displaced by the Ituri Conflict, cleans the altar of the Kilo-Mission church. Hugh Kinsella…
Peace activist Liberata Buratwa poses for a portrait in her garden. Hugh Kinsella Cunningham, Rutshuru,…