Raïssa Karama Rwizibuka, based in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo: Congolese beauty has been distorted by international media, so much so that Congolese women do not believe in their beauty anymore. So, I wanted to represent natural Congolese beauty in its greatness and its authenticity. On the left is 19-year-old Rosalie Kinja. On the right, Carine Baraka who is 23. Both young women are from Bukavu/South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The idea for the photograph came to me in the middle of a conversation with them. Immediately, I grabbed my camera and said to the girls: ‘Help me, I’m going to test something.’ This photo represents the power between two women who are beautiful and confident and who also support each other.
Raïssa Karama Rwizibuka for Fondation Carmignac
By Eliza Anyangwe, Editor of CNN As Equals
Updated 0905 GMT (1705 HKT) December 30, 2021
Raïssa Karama Rwizibuka, based in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo: Congolese beauty has been distorted by international media, so much so that Congolese women do not believe in their beauty anymore. So, I wanted to represent natural Congolese beauty in its greatness and its authenticity. On the left is 19-year-old Rosalie Kinja. On the right, Carine Baraka who is 23. Both young women are from Bukavu/South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The idea for the photograph came to me in the middle of a conversation with them. Immediately, I grabbed my camera and said to the girls: ‘Help me, I’m going to test something.’ This photo represents the power between two women who are beautiful and confident and who also support each other.
Raïssa Karama Rwizibuka for Fondation Carmignac
Editors Note: This story is part of As Equals, CNN’s ongoing series on gender inequality. For information about how the series is funded and more, check out our FAQs.
This year, As Equals, CNN’s global gender reporting team, has endeavored to resist reactionary reporting. We’ve slowed right down. Our journalism has sought not just to report or describe what is happening to women and gender non-conforming people around the world, but to explore why various oppressions and inequalities persist — and why, in some cases, they are getting worse.
Photography has been an essential tool for us in doing this work, but in an image-saturated world, and in industries — journalism and, more specifically, photojournalism — that are still dominated by men, it is important to continue to question what it is we need to see and who gets to capture the world that we see.
This photo gallery, produced in collaboration with Women Photograph, helps to broaden what we think of as news stories worth telling, and gives a platform to more women storytellers and image makers.
As the year draws to a close, I hope these stunning images, and the captions in the photographers’ own words — edited for brevity and clarity — will help you reflect on not just the pain and struggle of 2021, but also the moments of joy and the beauty that were also always present.
