Bon Amis

Bon Amis

Michael Zumstein, 2012 Finalist

A project about the Ivory Coast’s journey to reconciliation after the post-election crisis of 2010-11. The judges were impressed with Zumstein’s portrayal of an Africa not often seen in the media – and by his strong compositions and sense of place.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, Koumassi, 24 October 2010 Laurent Gbagbo's rally, outgoing incumbent for the presidential election. Laurent Gbagbo's supporters waiting for their candidate.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 29 October 2010 Before the first round, last rally of the outgoing incumbent Laurent Gbagbo in Felix H. Boigny stadium. During the speech, soldiers resting under a canvas Laurent Gbagbo.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 26 October 2010 In Yopougon military camp district, a meeting is organized with partisans of different Ivory Coast political parties.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 31 October 2010 First round of the presidential elections. Polling station in Treichville district, cite du port. The ballot box.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 01 November 2010 A newspaper seller is sorting out his magazine after the first round of the presidential elections.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 03 November 2010 At the PDCI headquarter, the figure of former ivory Coast President, Felix H. Boigny.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 03 January 2011 Bodyguards of Allassane Ouattara's Prime Minister Guillaume Sora, improving security in the garden of the Golf Hotel, during an interview.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 06 January 2011 Alassane Ouattara's press conference in Golf Hotel.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 12 January 2011 After the intervention of Laurent Gbagbo's Security Forces (FDS) in Abobo district, a man on a roof is watching the empty streets.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 1 6 January 2011 After the Sunday mass, young believers line to validate their worship passport.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 1 2 January 2011 After the intervention of Laurent Gbagbo's Security Forces (FDS) in Ababa district, a barricade has been built by the inhabitants scared of the FDS.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 11 January 2011 In Ababa district, 4 dead bodies were found after loyal supporter forces of Laurent Gbagbo had came in the district in the morning.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 1 2 January 2011 After the intervention of Laurent Gbagbo's Security Forces (FDS) in PK 18 district near Ababa. Portrait of Dosso Yagouba, 57 years old driver, in front his randsacked house after the FDS came.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 01 April 2011 Bats and UNOCI helicopter (United Nations Operation in COte d'lvoire) in the sky of Abidjan.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 09 April 2011 UNOCI soldiers' tent in the Gulf Hotel.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 31 December 2010 During a new year party in Golf Hotel, Dj Volcano (left) and Zarro Masque (right).
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 11 January 2011 In Ababa district, on PK 18 bridge, Marco Aboubackar, chief of the Forces Nouvelles (FN) section of his district, try to stop the loyal supporter forces of Laurent Gbagbo.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 08 April 2011 Soldiers of the Forces Republicaine de Cote d'lvoire (FRet), which support Alassane Ouattara, leave the Gulf Hotel in order to improve security in Abidjan.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 31 March 2011 Young patriots, makeshift roadblock in Plateau district.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 07 April 2011 Soldiers of the Unicorn force are improving security in the Plateau district in Abidjan, before evacuating the area.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 07 April 2011 Soldiers of the Unicorn force are checking civilians identities, before evacuating the Plateau district in Abidjan.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 14 April 2011 A boy is standing in front of the Ivory Coast Red Cross staff (supported by RCIC) which came in the Plateau district in order to take away the corpses after the fights in Abidjan between pro-Gbagbo militiamen and pro-Ouattara FRCI soldiers.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 14 April 2011 One of the numerous non-identified corps in a street of the Plateau district in Abidjan (near the school I'ecole des Douanes), after the fights in Abidjan between pro-Gbagbo militiamen and pro-Ouattara FRCI soldiers.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 11 April 2011 Golf Hotel: the crowd, composed of soldiers and civilians, thrilled after Laurent Gbagbo's arrest
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 11 April 2011 Guillaume Sora, Alassane Ouattara's Prime Minister and Defence Minister, in the Golf Hotel corridors, after the announcement of Laurent Gbagbo's arrest.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 11 April 2011 Golf Hotel: a soldier of the Forces Republicaines de COte d'lvoire (FRCI) is crying of happiness after Laurent Gbagbo's arrest
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 11 April 2011 When he arrived at the Golf Hotel, Jean-Jacques Bechio, special adviser of Laurent Gbagbo, is beaten by the crowd.
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 08 April 2011 At the Marie Therese crossroads, Riviera Golf district, men suspected to be militiamen supporting Laurent Gbagbo, were arrested by the Forces Republicaines de COte d'lvoire (FRCI).
Ivory Coast, Abidjan, 11 April 2011 Laurent Gbagbo in the Golf Hotel room where he and his wife Simone Gbagbo have been put after their arrest.
Photographer's Statement: 

During six months (from October 2010 until April 2011) I photographed for the French and International press the post electoral crisis in Ivory Coast.

After months of meetings, electoral hopes followed by conflicts and violence; the country, which has reached a fragile democracy, is still extremely divided.

Further to the time I spent in Ivory Coast, I did not want to only see this country through what the media would show.

How its population, despite the current divisions, can make-up and live together again?

Today, symbolic acts of collective reconciliation are so tame that inhabitants from the Ivory Coast only have their own memory, their suffering and worse their feeling of injustice to manage their situation.

Is Ivory Coast selling out its future by refraining to deal with their duty of memory? How can one build a future, if the past is not accepted and responsibilities not dealt with?

I have travelled to Duékoué in the western part of the country. Here, over 800 people from the Guéré ethnic group were killed by the armed forces of Guillaume Soro who is today a loyal of the president Alassane Ouattara. No soldiers were ever brought to justice and the families of the victims are rising up against such injustice.

In the PK18 area of Abidjan, the population also feels abandoned. They were the first victims of Gbagbo’s Security Force during the trigger of the civil war. Today they are still waiting for an official recognition of their sacrifice and complain to have never received the help promised by the government.

michael.zumstein's picture
Michael
Zumstein

Michaël Zumstein, French-Swiss photographer born in 1970, graduated from the Ecole Supérieure de Photographie de Vevey (Switzerland).

Whether working on commission for the French or foreign press or on his personal projects, Zumstein’s work follows a heritage of photojournalism of objective observation that allows himself to honestly render situations and look beyond stereotypes.

While Following the conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Ivory Coast, and Sudan, he focused on the « ambiguous relations between Africa and the West ».

Along with his work on the African continent, Michaël Zumstein covers French political and social news.
For more than a year, he has been photographing a series of stories on the Cité des Courtilières in Pantin. Witnessing the tensions between the youth and the police, he has covered the events at Villiers-le-bel or Clichy-sous-Bois.

Elsewhere, Michaël Zumstein animates photographic studios in Africa for the World Press Photo.

Photographers