How to live in the poorest country in the world
Photojournalist Michael Christopher brown produced numerous episodes of the Congo. About this African country, the inhabitants of the "Golden billion" don't know almost nothing. Projects Braun affect all facets of Congolese reality: the life, traditions, work, war. Here is what the photographer says about his work, impressions of the country and its problems:
"Like many colleagues, I shoot on iPhone. A mobile phone allows you to hide the fact that you're a professional photographer. For their heroes I'm a man from the crowd. Stealth is important primarily in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo: various armed groups and the state are fighting for control of minerals and fossils, in turn, are used to further Finance the war, the atrocities and repression, which is already more than a century to occur in this area.
Congo — mostly underdeveloped countries. Electronic industry is the main consumer of minerals mined here: tourmaline stone, tin and coltan. They make the most important components for phones, laptops, and other gadgets. Therefore, if ironic, that I'm shooting on an iPhone — very helpful. I arrived in the Congo in early August 2012, to fix the path of minerals from the mine to the borders of the country and how the trade in these minerals affect the lives of workers, who all this time dealing with them. In a refugee camp in Kibati phone helped me to remove unobtrusive. I was also more concentrated as a photographer. Instead of thinking about camera settings and a huge amount of equipment, I'd better focus on what is happening in front of me. The photos are more about what I feel and see.
In the Congo trade of mineral resources significantly affects the lives of everyone, even those who do not work in the mines. In the Heal Africa hospital in Goma for example, I met emaciated teenage girl who was gang raped by three policemen, allegedly sponsored by funds from the mines. I do not call to abandon gadgets. The causes of the problems in the Congo is much more complex. There are programs like Solutions for Hope, funded by the industry that try to control coltan. But the traceability of minerals is complicated by the inaccessibility and dangerous".
Keywords: Africa | Poverty | Life | Congo | Mobilography