One photo features a billowing cloud of blue plastic nets, with small, silver Sambaza fish held in its grasp. Overfishing, rising water temperatures caused by climate change, and pollution from plastic waste have led to a steep decline in the lake’s fish stocks, threatening the livelihoods of those who live and trade on its shores. In another photo, a man in a hard hat checks the pressure gauge inside a hydroelectric dam, often clogged with plastic debris. This pollution weakens infrastructure and heightens the risk of rupture. Added to this is the insufficient extraction of methane gas which, when maintained in the water in high quantities, increases the threat of a catastrophic eruption of carbon-dioxide gas.  

In this series, Mukoni presents the human-made forces which threaten the lake’s delicate ecosystem. Yet he also portrays the lake as a character in its own right: a vast, symbiotic organism, not merely a passive vessel at risk of exploitation, but rather a being which carries its own narrative. 

AUBIN MUKONI is a photographer and filmmaker based in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo. His work serves as a window into often invisible realities, an eyewitness testimony to the stories he tells, and as a means of advocating for causes through images. He has collaborated on several conflict-resolution projects and worked with international organisations such as the United Nations, Johanniter International, Tearfund, and Vis RDC, among many others. His photojournalistic work includes coverage of the war between the FARDC and M23, and the takeover of Rumangabo by the EAC in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the food crisis among displaced populations in Democratic Republic of Congo. 

ISABEL WALTER is a writer and curator based in Amsterdam. She currently works as Assistant Curator at Foam, and Editorial Assistant at Foam Magazine. She is particularly interested in art which expands the technical and conceptual boundaries of photography, moving image and new technologies.