Personal Best vol.21 | Peter Bauza

04.05.2019

Written by... Peter Bauza

Peter Bauza is a German photographer who works in the documentary and storytelling world. He is very committed to social and geopolitical issues especially in the areas of conservation, global health, diminishing cultures, sustainability and the environment. He has resided in South America and Europe for more than 20 years and also frequently travels to Africa.

Peter is a winner of the international award World Press Photo 2017 for contemporary stories, the POY Latam 2017 for everyday life as well as the Visa d’or 2016 for features. Furthermore, Peter has won multiple awards and honorable mentions annually, including from American Photography, Hansel-Mieth, Latin American Fotografía, Los DIEZ by Epson, Px3 – Prix de la Photographie Paris, Days Japan, Moscow International Photo Awards (MIFA), and the International Photo Award (IPA), among other international awards.

Peter’s work has been exhibited in museums, galleries and cultural spaces in Perpignan (Visa pour l’Image), Paris, Siena, Daejeon (Korea), Milan, Quito, Moscow, Salta, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, and at the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) in Long Beach, California.

He has been published in Aftenposten, The Guardian, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, GEO, LA NACION, Leica M Magazine, LFI, Marie Claire, Volkskrant, Stern, NZZ, doc! Magazine, Vrij, Days Japan, NYT Lens, Courrier international, Vanity Fair, VSD, Alma Magazine, Clarin, El Federal, Die Zeit, DOUBLETruck Magazine, DF (Duży), among others.

He is the author of the multi-award winning (Lucie, OneEyeland and FEP) book „Copacabana Palace“ a sharing life with the “sem teto, sem terra” (roof and landless) in Rio de Janeiro. Generally hidden from view, they represent the dark side of Brazil’s multibillion-dollar spending spree on global sporting events, financial/political and corruption crisis.

Gears:

FUJIFILM X-T2
XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR
XF100-400mmF4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR

Stories that must be seen… Stories that have to be told… Stories that you must know…

„Enduring Times“ or often called „A Country That’s Dying“ is my recent long-term documentary project that left deep feelings, traces and opened my mind again and challenged my soul. This work has been multiple published and awarded; Six times at Paris Photo Px3 Prix de la Photographie, American Photography 2018, shortlisted Visa Pour L’Image, Visa D’Or 2018.

After decades of civil war, South Sudan succeeded in separating from its Arab north in 2011. People cheered, because more than 90 percent had spent a long time fighting for independence and now voted for it, but it was a short-lived dream.

In December 2013, a dispute broke out between the new president, Salva Kiir, and his former vice president, Riek Machar, and there was no going back, even though they had once fought side-by-side for independence. In the brand-new, united country led by Kiir, the Dinka had been in power. The country’s big dream crumbled along with the disintegrating army whose soldiers had been running after their wages for months and now decided they had carte blanche to earn their pay by looting villages, camps, and aid convoys.

Since the crisis erupted in 2013 in SouthSudan, 4 million people have been uprooted from their homes due to war and severe food insecurity. Approximately 1.88 million people are displaced internally, 2 million fled to neighboring and an estimated 7.3 million are in need of humanitarian aid.

The world invests more than US $1 billion annually in South Sudan, but the weapons and ethnic hunts aren’t coming to a halt.

Let me share with you some of my favored pictures and the behind stories from my 4 months South Sudan project „Enduring Times“.