IMAGE:

#20

Liberia. October 30, 2018. Fishermen in Robertsport rest after early morning net fishing in the Atlantic Ocean. Founded by free people of color from the United States, the founders modeled it’s constitution and flag after those of the United States, and brought culture with them; in Robertsport, the architecture includes plantation-style houses reminiscent of the Southern United States. Liberia declared independence in 1847, the first African republic to proclaim its independence, and is Africa's first and oldest modern republic.

COLLECTION:

NEXUS III

I have worked in Central Africa since 2012. While living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C.) for several years, I covered a variety of stories related to the ongoing fighting where, since the 1990’s, over 6 million people have died from causes connected to war. Home of the world’s deadliest conflict since World War II, the eastern D.R.C. is an incredibly complicated and dynamic environment, where more than 150 militias operate just in the tiny eastern province of North Kivu alone, where I was based and where the Islamic State claimed its first suicide bombing this month.

Fortunately, the eastern D.R.C. is an anomaly in Africa. Though I covered some conflict in other African countries, most of the continent is at relative peace. Generally, when I think of the region I remember all the magical mornings, waking up in the Central African countryside with a primal attraction to the incredible beauty and vitality of the people, the flora and fauna, a magical connection that I will never be able to sufficiently explain.

The third collection from the NEXUS series, which includes The Airport (NEXUS I) and The Forest People (NEXUS 2), both available on Opensea, NEXUS covers a variety of stories from the region and environs and includes imagery from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Central African Republic, Liberia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. Most of the collection includes documentation inside the Congo Basin, the world’s second largest river basin after the Amazon, our planet’s second lung.

The imagery, numbered chronologically, was made while on assignment for editorials, including National Geographic Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, Bloomberg Businessweek, Amnesty International and Conservation International.