The family of Najie Lokalei lost all its cattle during a raid one month ago, during which she received a bullet in her arm.

Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

gwenn_d@hotmail.com +33644142546 France

Biography

I became interesting in photography while working in East-Africa and the Horn of Africa (Somaliland, Kenya, Ethiopia, North-Sudan and South-Sudan) for NGOs. I moved to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2007 and worked as a professional photographer based in Kinshasa from April 2010 to February 2012, regularly collaborating, among others, with the French Press Agency (AFP). I recently moved to Paris and I currently work as a freelancer. Since 2010, my work has been regularly awarded. This year, I was awarded the Sophot price in France, and was finalist of both the Afthermath grant and the Bourse du Talent. Last year, I received the Photoreporter Festival of Saint Brieuc grant to continue a long term project about copper mining in the South-eastern province of Katanga, DRCongo, which also reach the final at the Photo Philanthropy Professional Award. In addition, my work “Turkana warriors” has been short listed at the Sony World Photography Awards in the category “Fine Art – Portraiture”, and my series of portraits of women victims of sexual violence in Eastern Congo reached the final of the Bourse du Talent. The same year, my feature about “the child-witches of Kinshasa” has been awarded the jury’s special prize at the 8th Days Japan International Photojournalism Festival. In 2011, the same work was awarded the jury’s special mention at the Roger Pic Prize and the investigation prize at the European Journalism Festival. I also received the Getty Images Creative Grant. In 2010, I was already short listed among the exceptional finalists of the same grant, and was awarded the jury special prize at the International Scoop and Journalism festival of Angers for he work “Etat d’Armes”, about ammunitions and weapons stockpiles in the Congo.