Between 2003 and 2004, Miriam – the designer of Bang Bang Bang – worked as a humanitarian worker in eastern DRC, based in Bukavu and carrying out projects and assessments in Ituri, North and South Kivu and travelling to Kindu, Kisangani and Kinshasa. Travelling with her camera, she sought to capture some of the vibrancy , difficulties and resilience of the communities she worked with.
These formed a starting point for the design concept of Bang Bang Bang, and informed the material, colour and composition of the final scenography.
Click on each image to view, and to read the captions. If you’d like to see more of Miriam’s design and photography, visit her website.
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- The Road to Butembo, North Kivu, DRC
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- Mama Claudine, Mahagi, Ituri DRC
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- Mama Rosa, Mahagi, Ituri. Mama Rosa ran a community returnee programme for former child soldiers in the area which had recently been declared an arms and uniform free zone by MONUC. She showed me how to tie a sarong to reduce the chance of sexual violence.
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- Charles Mampasu from War Child with children from all groups who have recently been demobilised, in a transitional centre for children ‘ associated with armed groups and forces’, including many girl survivors of sexual violence, in a former Belgium police head quarters in Butembo, North Kivu
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- Mama Louisa in her chapel, Mahagi, Ituri, DRC
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- This boy lives in the Ek’bana centre for children who have been accused of witchcraft in Bukavu, South Kivu. This is a ‘social day’ of cultural activities to introduce the children to their communities.
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- The entrance to the Butembo CTO, a transitional centre for children associated with armed groups and forces, on Palm Sunday.
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- Recently demobilised from one of the many armed groups which had been operating in the ‘Nord Nord’ area of North Kivu, this boy learns new life skills which may offer a different vocational future beyond violence.
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- Accused of ‘sourcellerie’ or ‘witchcraft’, this girl was referred to Ek’bana hostel run by Soeur Nathalina, an Italian nun who had been living and working in Bukavu, South Kivu for 25 years. Using a step by step approach looking at family need and using traditional reconciliation techniques, Nathalina and her team had a 100% success rate of reunifying accused children into their communities.
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- Mama Louisa and her colleagues in their courtyard. At the height of the fighting in 2002 over 300 families had sheltered in this mission, which managed not to be attacked, despite heavy fighting all around.
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- Mama Louisa, Mahagi, Ituri. Aged 92, Mama Louisa and 3 of her sister- colleagues had evacuated 22 children under 2 from advancing rebels. As the had no transport and the children could not walk, they carried 2 children at a time a hundred metres and then returned for the others, and in this leapfrog fashion they covered 36 km of scrub to reach the mission in Mahagi. All of the children survived.
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- Children Not Soldiers: Child protection training in Mahagi, Ituri, DRC
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- The threat of volcanic activity, following the major eruption in 2002, makes Goma the most dangerous city to live in in the world, according to National Georgraphic volcanologists, regardless of its centrality to the recent 2 Congolese wars.