The Swiss-born photographer Dominic Nahr has won the ‘Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award’, for the first time awarded this year, for his photographic essay from the Congo, titled ‘The Road to Nowhere’.
The portfolio ‘The Road to Nowhere’ – documents the dramatic situation of refugees in the east of the Republic of Congo at the end of 2008. From 2004, Laurent Nkunda, the then leader of the Tutsi rebels, fought against the country’s government and sowed fear and terror in the hearts of the local population. Amongst other things, his troops are alleged to have been responsible for numerous rapes, killings and episodes of torture. The situation escalated in October and November of 2008 as Laurent Nkunda took control of the most important roads and cities in the province of North Kivu. More than 250,000 civilians were driven from their homes by the fighting between Nkunda’s troops and the army. A permanent fear of further pillage, rape and murder constantly accompanied them during their flight. At this point in time, no one was safe in North Kivu. In his images, Dominic Nahr accompanies refugees and soldiers on their apparently hopeless search for safety.