Portfolio Category - Portrait Awards 2014

Among the Ekonda in DR Congo, the primiparous nursing women ("walé") have to follow a greater number of rules than other nursing women, which in turn give them a special social status within the society. These rules occur during a long seclusion period (from her husband) which starts just after delivery of her first child. These young mothers in confinement show pride and dignity, despite their great loneliness, seen here through their plastic beauty.