Shepherd (16 x 24") (Print 1 of 5)

Location: Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Year: 2016.

Limited Edition: Print 1 in an Edition of 5 (Plus 2 Artist Proofs). Signed, Dated and Numbered.

Size: 16 x 24” Image Size.

Paper: Museum-Quality Archival Pigment Print.

Includes: Artist Stamped Certificate of Authenticity.

Details: Behind this boy is a volcano. Beneath his feet is land the world keeps fighting over.

I met him at dusk in Virunga National Park — where the earth holds more value to the outside world than the people growing up on it will ever see.

Congo supplies the necessary metals that power our modern lives —
our phones, our laptops, our batteries — yet children here walk home through mud, not wealth.

And still, in his gaze, there was no defeat. Only belonging. A quiet strength shaped by the land rather than imposed upon it.

People often speak about Congo in terms of conflict or resources.
But the country is carried by lives like his — ordinary, unprotected, undefeated — holding their ground in the foreground of a history that keeps rumbling underneath.

Made on assignment for Bloomberg. From the series East Congo.