I grew up in a small rural village in central Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was a place where photography was rare and precious, the local photo studio opened only twice a week, on Thursdays and Sundays. People would put on their finest clothes, walk for hours, and pose proudly for a single portrait. That’s where I first understood the power of images.

At the same time, radio was our only window to the world. It shaped my relationship with journalism. I grew up surrounded by stories that traveled far, but always felt that the voices from our village… our hopes, our struggles, our realities never reached beyond our fields.

I nurtured these two passions, photography and journalism, from a young age, and when the internet entered my life at age 14, everything changed. I started a Facebook page at 16 to share pictures of my village, taken with a borrowed smartphone. The page became a local reference, and I realized that I could give visibility to the lives, traditions, and questions that rarely made it into the national or international narrative.

Today, I work as a photojournalist and documentary storyteller, navigating the Congo River Basin, starting with my own country. My work focuses on the intersection between communities and their environments, with an emphasis on rural life, traditional knowledge, and the consequences of neglect and marginalization. I document both the dignity and the vulnerability of these communities, often underrepresented and mischaracterized.

People often mistake me for a government official when I arrive in a village with my camera. They hand me handwritten notes, ask me to transmit their concerns, and explain their struggles, about land, rivers, schools, forests. Even after I tell them I’m “just” a journalist, they continue. Over time, I’ve come to see this as something deeper than confusion. It’s a form of trust, a belief that, perhaps, I can carry their voices further. I don’t take that lightly.

I’m currently a Visual Journalism student at VII Academy, a member of the Oxford Climate Journalism Network, and a freelance contributor to Anadolu Agency. I work independently and with Collectif DR, and my images are distributed via PixPalace and major stock photography platforms.

What drives me is not only to document what happens, but also to provoke a rethinking of what matters, to give rural stories the depth, complexity and dignity they deserve. I believe the village is not just a place of the past, but a site of knowledge, resilience and future potential.