As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the world in 2020, swiftly closing down borders, Finbarr O’Reilly and 11 Congolese photographers—who were collaborating on a vast project addressing the human, social and ecological challenges that the DRC faces today—quickly adapted themselves to the new reality and created a unique collaborative online chronicle, an uninterrupted and unprecedented stream of articles, photo essays, and videos housed on a dedicated website called “Congo in Conversation” that has also resulted in a bilingual monograph of the same name. The 11th Carmignac Photojournalism Award funded the project. In this VII Insider talk, VII agency photographer Ziyah Gafic and Finbarr discuss the project’s evolution and execution, the history and politics of photojournalism in the Congo, the importance of diversity and representation in photojournalistic narratives, and using institutional power and privilege to lift up underrepresented voices and develop the next generation of storytellers.



Finbarr O’Reilly is an independent photographer and multimedia journalist, and the author of the nonfiction memoir, Shooting Ghosts, A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and Their Journey Back from War (Penguin Random House 2017). Finbarr lived for 12 years in West and Central Africa and has spent two decades covering conflicts in Congo, Chad, Sudan, Afghanistan, Libya, and Gaza. He is the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize exhibition photographer and a frequent contributor to The New York Times. His photography and multimedia work has earned numerous industry honors, including First Place in the Portraits category at the 2019 World Press Photo Awards. He was also winner of the World Press Photo of the Year in 2006 and earned a 2020 Emmy for the PBS Frontline documentary, Ebola in Congo. Finbarr is a Canon Ambassador.



Ziyah Gafic is an award-winning photojournalist and videographer based in Sarajevo focusing on societies locked in a perpetual cycle of violence and Muslim communities around the world. He covered major stories in over 50 countries. Ziyah’s work received many prestigious awards such as multiple awards at World Press Photo, Grand Prix Discovery of the Year at Les Rencontres d’Arles, Hasselblad Masters Award, City of Perpignan Award for Young Reporters at Visa pour l’Image, Photo District News, Getty Images grant for editorial photography, TED fellowship, Prince Claus grant, and Magnum Emergency fund grant. His work is regularly published in leading international publications. Ziyah authored several monographs including “Troubled Islam – short stories from troubled societies”, “Quest for Identity,” and the most recent, “Heartland.”