Interview with Cédric Gerbehaye

Cédric Gerbehaye, a young photographer working for VU Agency, has won the prize Olivier Rebbot 2008, awarded by the Overseas Press Club of America for his report on "Congo in Limbo" published in Newsweek. This powerful report is exhibited in couvent des minimes.

After graduating in journalism in 2003, Cédric Gerbehaye, not satisfied by the media proposed (TV, radio), decided to turn to photography and to work as a freelance photojournalist. “I like being able to come back on a subject; I want to have time to analyse, understand the situations.” He started his career by taking pictures in Indonesia, and made his first report on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. He has continued his long-term project in the Palestinian territories and Israel, as well as covering Kurdish issues in Turkey and Iraq.
In 2006, Cédric was awarded at the 15th National Open Photography Prize in Belgium, followed by a group exhibition at the Musée de la Photographie in Charleroi. In 2007, he received the first prize in photography young reporter category at the Bayeux award for war correspondents. The same year, he attended the Joop Swart Master class, and went to Congo to make a report on the required subject: “fragile”. Cédric claims: “I wanted to show how fragile the peace process and the population are in Congo”.

« Congo in Limbo », shows a population still suffering the effects of the conflict in everyday life: disease, malnutrition, and under-development, murder and violence.

In 2006, the Democratic Republic of Congo embarked on a course designed to restore political process, and reconciliation. But the rebuilding of the country was prevented by the failure to demobilize the militia and the failure to establish a new national army. The situation was critical in Eastern Congo, in the regions of Ituri and Kivu, with great mineral wealth, and in strategic positions on borders with Uganda and Rwanda. In 2007, 437,000 persons had to flee their villages to escape fighting, rape, forced recruitment of child soldiers. Basic community values were attacked. One of the consequences was that the vulnerable population started attending one of the 8000 « Revival Churches », where unscrupulous pastors, exploiting the confusion and dismay of people, offered them short-term relief. After the last wave of violence in Kivu in 2007, the number of displaced people is estimated at 800 000 persons. Peace agreements drawn up in January 2008 have not changed the situation. As Cédric Gerbehaye shows it, civilians are always the first victims, and armed groups and members of national military forces continue to make illegal gains from the country’s natural resources which provide a source of income to fund the conflict.

Cédric says: “Working there was difficult because the road infrastructures were disastrous. I first worked with an NGO, and I could move around in a small plane. And then, I worked with the United Nations, which allowed me to go to places I would have never been, like prisons.”

Cédric is thankful to Visa Pour l’Image. “If I can give a piece of advice to young photographers, it is to present their work to VISA. You can get very precious advice from agencies and photographers”.

Marion Mozzi