Rwanda X% by Ilka & Franz

Rwanda prides itself for being well organised and tidy, not a tiny piece of litter to be seen on the streets of Kigali. One Saturday a month, the country’s citizens get together to clean their roads and public spaces.

Landing in Kigali, Rwanda in late August, the airport oddly reminds me of a provincial airport in Scandinavia – small, tidy, empty. In many other ways Rwanda is very different from what I had expected of this central African country where only two decades ago one of the worst crimes against humanity imaginable took place with nearly a million dead, hundreds of thousands raped and an entire country traumatised.

Rwanda prides itself for being well organised and tidy, not a tiny piece of litter to be seen on the streets of Kigali. One Saturday a month, the country’s citizens get together to clean their roads and public spaces. Rwandan children are taught to greet visitors, even if strangers, with hugs. When it comes to women’s rights and representation, Rwanda is revolutionary. Today 56.3% of MPs in the Rwandan parliament are women. By law 30% of seats in government must go to women, both in national and local government. Unlike many other countries in the world, women can own land and property. Inheritance laws have been passed so that after his death, a man’s property is split equally between his wife and children, both daughters and sons.Rape is recognized as serious crime and punished with heavy prison sentences. There is a free police hotline for victims and witnesses to call, which is widely advertised. As a result, police reports have spiked in recent years. Family planning is common and contraception is widely available. Women have learnt that they have the right to decide about the number of children they want to have and that they can use contraception even if their husbands oppose. The word ‘gender’ is used widely and I am told that with ‘gender’ as argument a woman will have the last word in any marital quarrel. On many levels Rwanda looks like utopia for women. However, Rwanda, despite its successes, also is a country with “consensus politics”, which can be seen as a way of saying, “we won’t tolerate anyone who disagrees”, and media that are heavily controlled. Many things in Rwanda are not as tidy and clean as they seem and when digging a little deeper it becomes apparent that, although women have rights and access to services, domestic violenceis still prevalent.

1_ilkafranz_com

6_ilkafranz_com 2_ilkafranz_com 3_ilkafranz_com

A study commissioned by the Men Engage Network in 2010 found that more than half of women (57%) reported having experienced violence of some form committed by a partner, including slapping, forced sex, punching, pushing, throwing things, hitting with objects and threatening with a weapon. As the most prevalent factor in fuelling partner violence in Rwanda the same study cites violence during childhood including experience of war and genocide-related violence. After the genocide women had to take on more responsibilities because they had lost husbands and other male family members, both as genocide victims and perpetrators that were imprisoned, and they received more rights through laws and policies, both of which has put traditional gender relations under strain and is found to be another factor that are associated with violence against women partners. I am told that husbands find it difficult to see their wives earning more than them or holding posts of high responsibility. In fact, many women politicians never get married. Meanwhile men whose wives don’t work disrespect them for not contributing to the household income.

4_ilkafranz_com 5_ilkafranz_com 7_ilkafranz_com

Rwanda X%is about partner violence. The photo series explores the issue not by looking at victims but at families – wives, husbands and children. All individuals and couples portrayed have or had in the past problems with domesticviolence. The more couples I met during my visit, the more I looked for a common theme, like poverty, alcoholism or war trauma. In the end the common theme was that I liked each couple I met. Most were bubbly, friendly people, many of those I met together with their spouses seemed really in love. Violence against women partners is not a black and white issue. The reasons and family dynamics are complicated and ever changing. I was surprised to find love, apologiesand promises to change. But, I also did find poverty – most of the couples I met are from rural areas or from Gisozi, the most deprived district in Kigali – and the pressures of working long hours as daily wage laborers, farmers or motorbike taxi drivers whilestruggling to make ends meet. And I did hear endless stories of alcoholism, daily wages spent at the bars of Gisoziand nights ending with booze-fuelled fights at home. [Official Website]

8_ilkafranz_com 9_ilkafranz_com 10_ilkafranz_com 11_ilkafranz_com 13_ilkafranz_com 14_ilkafranz_com

More Stories

Cairo; A Beautiful Thing Is Never Perfect by Jonathan Jasberg

Cairo; A Beautiful Thing Is Never Perfect by Jonathan Jasberg

The project title for his work on Cairo is inspired by an ancient Egyptian proverb that states ‘A Beautiful Thing Is Never Perfect'. 
I Always Hoped For Better by David Egan

I Always Hoped For Better by David Egan

David Egan is a photographer that focuses on elements of the past and the ever- changing landscape of the American West. He carries an MFA in photography and a BA in Organizational Communications.
Boxing Notes by Giuseppe Cardoni

Boxing Notes by Giuseppe Cardoni

Nonna Mira, the real boxing enthusiast of the family, set her alarm for 3 a.m. and called my father and me (just a boy) to watch big matches live from Madison Square Garden in New York.
https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/bannerpr.jpg

We invite you to participate in the first edition of the Portrait Photography Awards. Our call is open to any artistic interpretation of portrait photography.

https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/BAnImage.jpg

ImageRights provides intelligent image search and copyright enforcement services to photo agencies and professional photographers worldwide.

https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/mono2022.jpg

The best 100 images along with the winning images published in the yearly book “Monochromatic – Best Photographers of 2022”

Call For Entries #24 | After 23 editions and more than 100 published photographers, our print edition has proven to be a simply effective promotional channel.

Architecture; Niemeyer’s Brasilia by Andrew Prokos

Architecture; Niemeyer’s Brasilia by Andrew Prokos

“Niemeyer’s Brasilia” is a series of photos conceived when I was visiting Brasilia for the first time in 2012. I was fascinated by Brasilia, which at once seems futuristic and trapped in time.
Wrestling and rugby; The Easter Battle by Jordi Perdigó & Cristina Aldehuela

Wrestling and rugby; The Easter Battle by Jordi Perdigó & Cristina Aldehuela

Every Easter Sunday, the residents of Shukhuti remember their dead by playing this ancient game. Lelo is a sport, and a tradition, but most of all it’s about passion, strength, faith and devotion
Elements by Katherine Young

Elements by Katherine Young

‘Elements’ is a special project for me bringing together my passion for contemporary architecture and black-and-white photography. The idea behind it was to showcase the ingenuity and multiplicity of contemporary façades.
Parkinson’s disease; Semaphore by Torrance York

Parkinson’s disease; Semaphore by Torrance York

After discovering that she had Parkinson’s disease, Torrance York focused her camera on the challenge to integrate this life-altering information into her sense of self. In Semaphore York’s photographs speak metaphorically about her shift in perspective post-diagnosis.
Universal integration; Distanza by Matteo Canestraro

Universal integration; Distanza by Matteo Canestraro

Distanza is a work of 7 images. I’ve been asked by Terre Rare, a cultural foundation, and L’Aquila municipality to present an artist project around a specific subject
Emptiness by Kaushik Dolui

Emptiness by Kaushik Dolui

Emptiness In summer months, Leh’s clear blue skies, stark landscapes and the deep valleys appear magical. The streets of Leh that used to be filled with visitors in summer now go nearly empty in the mid November.
David : Postcards from the black by Jim Mortram

David : Postcards from the black by Jim Mortram

I’d met Eugene in the street a couple of years ago. Her style standing out, looking like every woman I remember as a child in the 1970s. We would stop and talk whenever our paths crossed in town, until late last summer when Eugene disappeared.
Weavers by Kannan Muthuraman

Weavers by Kannan Muthuraman

Thirumazhisai is a suburb of Chennai, India, located in Thiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu. It was once famous for its traditional weaving business.
Silent architecture by Lorenzo Linthout

Silent architecture by Lorenzo Linthout

The silent power of architecture: an architecture that has the task of enhancing the empty space. Photographing the silence in the urban jungle is a work of deprivation, subtraction and negation
Interview with Thom Pierce; Published in our print edition #01

Interview with Thom Pierce; Published in our print edition #01

Thom Pierce is a photographer based in Cape Town. He is originally from the UK and has lived in South Africa since 2009. His work explores the line between art and documentary photography.
Guatemala; Until the corn Grows Back by Lys Arango

Guatemala; Until the corn Grows Back by Lys Arango

Until the corn Grows Back; Lys Arango’s project was selected and published in our print edition 16. Criminal violence in Central America was something that happened very far away and that explained, according to the media, the gigantic caravans of migrants that from 2017 began to travel thousands of kilometres to reach the United States
Photographic language; Magic realism by Saul Landell

Photographic language; Magic realism by Saul Landell

Should I take an image in a world that I see or in a world that I understand?... Images of a real or a posible world?...
Interview with Oliver Klink, first place in our black & white 2018

Interview with Oliver Klink, first place in our black & white 2018

We need more presence like Dodho that features inspiring images and creative photographers. Going back to my earlier comment about where you spend your time, browsing Dodho is certainly worth every minute to read stories and get inspired by amazing photographers.
Fast cars and loose women of Greg Manis

Fast cars and loose women of Greg Manis

Raised on loud bikes, fast cars and loose women, Greg Manis' photos tell the tale of his North Georgia upbringing in a raw, yet romantic fashion.
Social documentary photography; Kennedy Hill by Ingetje Tadros

Social documentary photography; Kennedy Hill by Ingetje Tadros

Kennedy Hill is a remote Aboriginal community in Broome in the north-west of Australia in the Kimberley. The community exists in the shadows of Western Australian premier Colin Barnett’s commitment to close down approximately 100-150 Aboriginal communities in Western Australia.
Xinjiang: Identities on Borrowed Time by Maxime Crozet

Xinjiang: Identities on Borrowed Time by Maxime Crozet

On the North-Western borders of China lies the immense region of Xinjiang (literally, “New Frontier”). Until a few years ago, the region had a majority of Uyghurs, a Sunni Muslim people speaking a Turkic language, and also included Kazakh

Featured Stories

Fishshot by Javier Corso

Fishshot by Javier Corso

Fishshot is a documentary project about loneliness, emotional isolation, and sentimental repression in Finnish society. These problems go further when the people start drinking to fight against them. The excessive consumption of alcohol is present in more than half cases of suicide, homicide and gender violence.
Urban sprawl series by Emmanuel Monzon

Urban sprawl series by Emmanuel Monzon

Through my urban sprawl series, I want to photograph the in-between state found in the American landscape. So I capture places of transition, borders, passages from one world to another
Still lifes by Belén Argüeso

Still lifes by Belén Argüeso

More or less three years gave me my first camera ...... I'm not a professional photographer ... just a simple fan trying learn and improve every day,. I started taking pictures of my dog, and uploading them to a pet forum
Michal Baran ; Beauty & Fashion Photography

Michal Baran ; Beauty & Fashion Photography

Michał Baran was born and raised in Poland, graduating in computer science, he worked as a web-master, graphic designer and developer, but his greatest passion has always been photography. 
Wildlife portraits by Nick Dale

Wildlife portraits by Nick Dale

I wanted to be a photographer when I was 15, but my mother said I could always take it up later – so that was that for 30 years! I ended up reading English at Oxford and working as a strategy consultant for a few years
The ordinary by Lotta Lemetti

The ordinary by Lotta Lemetti

For me creating still life compositions is a form of self-exploration. The creating process is an intriguing and almost devotional journey through my mind. Through predilections in aesthetic decisions such as subject matter, color and composition the work reflects who I am, where I come from and what I have experienced.
The Land Where the Roots Grow Deep by Rebecca Moseman

The Land Where the Roots Grow Deep by Rebecca Moseman

This series of photographs is part of an ongoing project about the African American people living in the deep south.
Mobile Photography by Star Rush

Mobile Photography by Star Rush

Star Rush is a Vietnamese American documentary and street photographer and writer, and an an advocate of mobile photography.
Joxe Inazio Kuesta ; Just a simple glance trapped in an image?

Joxe Inazio Kuesta ; Just a simple glance trapped in an image?

This reality can be a landscape for some, a portrait for others, a building for others, etc. ... In my case, the type of photography I do is street photography and documentary, and the main goal of almost all of them is the human being, and more specifically their glances.
Wildwood; Out of season by Mark Havens

Wildwood; Out of season by Mark Havens

Wildwood is a small barrier island at the tip of southern New Jersey. Through an improbable combination of economics, geography and chance, it harbors an architectural treasure: the highest concentration of mid-century modern motels in the United States.
The fashion photography of Sean Archer

The fashion photography of Sean Archer

Fashion Photography ; Sean Archer is an agent from the movie Face Off. I took the nickname when I was not sure if I'm any good in this. My real name is Stanislav Puchkovsky, I am from Yekaterinburg, Russia.
Trump-Kim craze by Biel Calderon

Trump-Kim craze by Biel Calderon

The second summit between the U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea chairman Kim Jong-un brought to the city of Hanoi heavy traffic, security cordons, and bustle. However, the residents of the capital of Vietnam welcomed the distinguished guests with great diplomacy and, in many cases, with joy and very peculiar demonstrations of admiration.
Community Swing by Stephanie Gengotti

Community Swing by Stephanie Gengotti

They walk among us, but they are not like us. They live among us, but they don’t live like we do. They have chosen to “live” in the legendary dual decade of the 1940s and 1950s, the years of gospel, R&B, swing, be bop and rock n’ roll.
The Nenets by Sara Bianchi

The Nenets by Sara Bianchi

The Nenets are an ethnic minority with fewer than 50.000 people dedicated to reindeer breeding. They live in Yamal peninsula, Siberia. Yamal in the language of the indigenous means "the end of the world"
Faubourg Treme by Alexis Pazoumian

Faubourg Treme by Alexis Pazoumian

There are many similarities between Louisiana and my country of origine, Armenia.That they are a victim of a natural disaster or a crime against humanity, a doggedness of the history
Portraits with Wet Plate Collodion by Paul Alsop & Luke White

Portraits with Wet Plate Collodion by Paul Alsop & Luke White

Wet Plate Collodion is a historic photographic process that was pioneered and used in the In the mid to late 1800's by an English photographer called Frederick Scott Archer.

Trending Stories

Soul of India by Suvobroto Ray Chaudhuri

Soul of India by Suvobroto Ray Chaudhuri

The village is panorama of the charming scenes of nature. The scenery of the changing seasons has a profound effect on the village life. It brings a divine touch into human mind and makes life full of divine beauty. 60 percent of the population still lives in villages of India.
Pestilentia Populi – Will Carnival Cure Populism? by Davide Germano

Pestilentia Populi – Will Carnival Cure Populism? by Davide Germano

The days of Fasnacht, the Basel Carnival – one of Europe's oldest and best-loved carnivals – just ended. Dating back to 1376 and becoming UNESCO World Heritage only in 2017
Something I Need to Say: Uncommon Life Stories by Bob Demchuk

Something I Need to Say: Uncommon Life Stories by Bob Demchuk

As I look back on my long career as a filmmaker, I realize that at the heart of every success I have had, large or small, was a story—a narrative, visual or in words, that had the power to connect.
Valerie Decleer; Lucent cutaneous coverings – hungry for skin

Valerie Decleer; Lucent cutaneous coverings – hungry for skin

The short movie, Fly in the ointment, directed by Peter Collins engaged me to make a series of photographs in which questions raise regarding the presence or absence of human touch in our lives. 
Human Nature by Lucas Foglia

Human Nature by Lucas Foglia

I grew up on a small farm thirty miles outside of New York City. The forest that bordered the farm was my childhood wilderness, a safe and wild place to play that was ignored by our neighbors who commuted to Manhattan.
Distant places; Japan by Claudio Beffa

Distant places; Japan by Claudio Beffa

In the last three years we've discovered many of the wonders of Honshu island, from the natural beauties of Kamikochi and Kumano Kodo, to the artistic treasures of Kyoto, Tottori-ken and Hyogo-ken, not leaving ignored the technology and lifestyle of Tokyo and Osaka.
On butterfly wings by Matthew Hall

On butterfly wings by Matthew Hall

The butterfly flaps its wings effortlessly for a time.  It glides for a moment, catching its breath while enjoying a guiding breeze. Then another flurry of activity with no apparent destination.
Five minutes with Yura Kurnosov

Five minutes with Yura Kurnosov

I shoot a people, ordinary people. I love to tinker with them, spend time on them. I coming to them in houses, apartments, rooms and so on.
Phobias; Touch the sky by Andrea Koporova

Phobias; Touch the sky by Andrea Koporova

Is serie from summer 2015. Andrea Koporová in this art work mirrors the story of a man with his little fear and uncertainty took a step to happiness.. "touch the sky"
Arctic; The island of the day before by Juan Herrero

Arctic; The island of the day before by Juan Herrero

Separated by two miles of water and the international dateline, the Diomede Islands are two dots in the Arctic. In the past, both islands were inhabited by a common native community, which shared land, water, language and family.
Hanjo – A photographic novel by Yoram Roth

Hanjo – A photographic novel by Yoram Roth

These images are part of a photographic novel… a limited-edition book that will be introduced at Tokyo Photo in September 2013.
Templar Geographies

Templar Geographies

Portugal is for me a country of cracked and yet brilliant beauty; when you are there, you breathe its decadent and yet amazing grandeur; a lifestyle that is reluctant to emergencies and even to fashionable is perceived; impervious to the most vulgar novelties. The liturgies of haste and appearance there seem to be somewhat deflated.

Other Stories

stay in touch
Join our mailing list and we'll keep you up to date with all the latest stories, opportunities, calls and more.
We use Sendinblue as our marketing platform. By Clicking below to submit this form, you acknowledge that the information you provided will be transferred to Sendinblue for processing in accordance with their terms of use
We’d love to
Thank you for subscribing!
Submission
Dodho Magazine accepts submissions from emerging and professional photographers from around the world.
Their projects can be published among the best photographers and be viewed by the best professionals in the industry and thousands of photography enthusiasts. Dodho magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted project. Due to the large number of presentations received daily and the need to treat them with the greatest respect and the time necessary for a correct interpretation our average response time is around 5/10 business days in the case of being accepted.
- Between 10/30 images of your best images, in case your project contains a greater number of images which are part of the same indivisible body of work will also be accepted. You must send the images in jpg format to 1200px and 72dpi and quality 9. (No borders or watermarks)
- A short biography along with your photograph. (It must be written in the third person)
- Title and full text of the project with a minimum length of 300 words. (Texts with lesser number of words will not be accepted)
This is the information you need to start preparing your project for its presentation
To send it, you must compress the folder in .ZIP format and use our Wetransfer channel specially dedicated to the reception of works. Links or projects in PDF format will not be accepted. All presentations are carefully reviewed based on their content and final quality of the project or portfolio. If your work is selected for publication in the online version, it will be communicated to you via email and subsequently it will be published.
Contact
How can we help? Got an idea or something you'd like share? Please use the adjacent form, or contact contact@dodho.com
Thank You. We will contact you as soon as possible.
Submission
Dodho Magazine accepts submissions from emerging and professional photographers from around the world.
Their projects can be published among the best photographers and be viewed by the best professionals in the industry and thousands of photography enthusiasts. Dodho magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted project. Due to the large number of presentations received daily and the need to treat them with the greatest respect and the time necessary for a correct interpretation our average response time is around 5/10 business days in the case of being accepted. This is the information you need to start preparing your project for its presentation.
To send it, you must compress the folder in .ZIP format and use our Wetransfer channel specially dedicated to the reception of works. Links or projects in PDF format will not be accepted. All presentations are carefully reviewed based on their content and final quality of the project or portfolio. If your work is selected for publication in the online version, it will be communicated to you via email and subsequently it will be published.
Get in Touch
How can we help? Got an idea or something you'd like share? Please use the adjacent form, or contact contact@dodho.com
Thank You. We will contact you as soon as possible.