Jennifer Baitwamasa has been attempted to be arrested, her mother has been threatened, and she is accused of being a lesbian in a heteropatriarchal and homophobic society like Uganda. "Am I scared? No, I can't be".
This exhibition showcases the struggle of African activists for climate change and human rights through the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project, a 1,443-kilometer pipeline between Uganda and Tanzania led by the French oil company Total Energies to export 6.5 billion barrels out of Africa. With an estimated production of 34 million tons of CO₂ annually, this will double the current emissions of Uganda and Tanzania and has been strongly opposed by local activists and environmental organizations, as it jeopardizes the fight against climate change and violates the Paris Agreements.
Through a journey of images and texts narrated in the first person by activists and conservationists, their personal stories are presented, showcasing how they work under threat. Different profiles are introduced, addressing a broad view of the various paths taken by African activists to fight for their rights against multinational corporations.
The exhibition is complemented by a series of images showing the environmental impact on the habitat of endangered native Rothschild giraffe populations, chimpanzee communities, as well as mangrove forests and the African coral barrier.
The photographs were taken in September and October 2022 at various locations in Uganda and Tanzania as part of a journalistic investigation funded by the Pascal Decroos Fund and JournalismFund.EU, published in France (Médiapart), Spain (El País), Belgium (MO* Magazine), and Switzerland (Daslamm).
Curators: David Soler Crespo, Soraya Aybar Laafou, and Pablo Garrigós.
David Soler Crespo is a Valencian freelance journalist based in Turís, Valencia. He is the founder of the first digital news outlet about Africa in Spanish, África Mundi. He collaborates with national and international media such as El País, eldiario.es, El Confidencial, Diari Ara, El Orden Mundial, The Continent, and The Africa Report. He holds a degree in Journalism from the University of Navarra with a Master's in Innovation in Journalism from the Miguel Hernández University of Elche and a Master's in African Politics from SOAS, University of London. David previously worked at the Navarra Center for International Development. He has covered elections in Kenya and Nigeria, and his interests focus mainly on politics, geopolitics, identities, and human rights of African populations.
Soraya Aybar Laafou is a political scientist and journalist based in Madrid. In recent years, her specialization has focused on the African continent in the areas of human rights, geopolitics, migratory movements, and feminisms. She is the director of África Mundi, the first digital media outlet about Africa in Spanish. Additionally, she has collaborated as a freelance journalist in national media such as El País or El Salto, and internationally in The Africa Report. Soraya also works as an international analyst at LISA Institute. She graduated in Political Science from the University of Valencia with a Master's in Human Rights and Sustainable Development from the same university and in International Relations and Communication from the Camilo José Cela University.
Pablo Garrigós is a Valencian visual journalist based in Belgium, where he works as a multimedia coordinator for the EFE Agency. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with news agencies, television channels, and newspapers covering national and international issues. His work has appeared in numerous media outlets such as Revista 5W, El País, Mediapart, and Le Soir, as well as on channels like Al Jazeera, RTVE, France 24, or GloboTV. Pablo works on long-term projects focused on identities, human and environmental rights, and climate change in Europe and Africa. He has also documented migration routes in the Mediterranean and health emergencies in the Democratic Republic of Congo for Médecins Sans Frontières..
