Artist photographer and director, passionate about images, Guerchom Ndebo uses photography to communicate his concerns on complex subjects and to stimulate reflection on contemporary issues. At the heart of his artistic approach, the concepts of equality, cultural differences, solidarity and decadence collide.

Driven by the desire to tell the stories that surround me, I immersed myself in photography. With a university education in communication, I looked around for training in photography to try to learn more and improve my artistic approach. Participating in the Congo in Conversation project of Finbarr O'Reilly and the Carmignac Foundation was for me a gateway to photojournalism, with the other photographers of the project, I improved the quality of telling a story in images.

One of my first published subjects was on the charcoal "Makala."Much of my city uses charcoal which has a major effect on the environment because it comes directly from the exploitation of the wood Virunga National Park. For me it was important to tell this story to show what is happening in my region, but it was not easy to realize the photo reportage because of the presence armed groups who occupy the forests and are the primary producers of charcoal.

After the exhibition of Congo in Conversation in Paris, I was contacted by Getty Images and began covering news from eastern Congo as a freelance contributor. One of the first stories I covered was the assassination of Italian ambassador in February 2021.

May 2021, I covered the eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano for Agence France-Presse and my work was published worldwide, including in The New York Times, CNN, RFI, USA Today, The Irish Times, and on the front page of Canada's The Globe and Mail. In the weeks after the eruption, I continued to work on regular assignments for AFP, and on commissions with several NGOs and UN agencies.

I also won the LensCulture Critic's Choice Award and the Albert Kahn Avenir Photo Canon Award in 2021.

I continue to work in close collaboration with Finbarr O'Reilly on upcoming stories and projects.

Photo by Finbarr O'Reilly - Goma-Congo DR, 2020