PHOTOS: The Masks Of Congo Are Worn To Protect, To Protest — And To Strike A Pose

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A man wears a mask made from dried banana leaf in the eastern Congolese city of Bukavu. The unusual choice of material is likely meant as a protest against the government requirement of mask-wearing in public, with a stiff fine for violators.





Raissa Karama Rwizibuka



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Raissa Karama Rwizibuka





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A woman at a market in the eastern Congolese city of Bukavu.





Raissa Karama Rwizibuka



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Raissa Karama Rwizibuka





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A masked motorcycle taxi driver in Kinshasha.





Justin Makangara



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Justin Makangara





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A woman wears a mask backward in the Congolese city of Bukavu — a way of complying with the government mask mandate but expressing dissatisfaction with the requirement.





Raissa Karama Rwizibuka



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Raissa Karama Rwizibuka





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Fabrice, a street vendor and a resident of the disadvantaged Camp Luka neighborhood of Kinshasa, says he cannot afford a disposable mask and so washes his cloth mask each night for use the next day.





Justin Makangara



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Justin Makangara





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Anglebert Maurice Kakuja, 29, a Sapeur, or Congolese dandy, shows off his fashion sense while wearing a homemade mask in the eastern Congolese city of Bukavu. Sapeurs take their name from the acronym for their group: Societe des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Elegantes.





Raissa Karama Rwizibuka



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Raissa Karama Rwizibuka





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A Sapeur — as Congolese fashionistas are known — shows off his mask at a market in Kinshasha.





Justin Makangara



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Justin Makangara




A Sapeur — as Congolese fashionistas are known — shows off his mask at a market in Kinshasha.


Justin Makangara

You can see the many ways people wear masks in Congo in the portraits by photographers Raissa Karama Rwizibuka, whose pictures were made in the city of Bukavu, and Justin Makangara, who photographed in the capital city of Kinshasha.

These images were made for Congo in Conversation, a collaborative digital group of Congolese photographers and journalists under the auspices of the Carmignac Photojournalism Award.