On January 14, 2019, the body of Ferdinand Santos floats, Christ-like, below a bridge in Tondo, Manila, weighted down by a concrete-filled pail with shackles. In 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte launched a nationwide anti-drug campaign, killing thousands of poor people suspected to be linked to drugs. Today, human rights organizations estimate a death toll as high as 30,000. Three years later and the war on drugs rages on. Thousands of cases remain in legal limbo, classified as “deaths under investigation” by the Philippine National Police and never brought to prosecutors. Families of victims are left facing a dead end, unable to achieve justice for their loved ones, citing enormous obstacles to filing cases and obtaining police or autopsy reports, authorities’ failure to investigate, and fear of retaliation. Since 2017, my work has been focused on documenting victims not identified and deaths not investigated amid the president's war on drugs.

A Ural Airlines Airbus A321 makes a hard landing in a cornfield near Zhukovsky Airport after both of its engines failed. August 15, 2019.

A Palestinian is seen using a slingshot against Israeli soldiers, when Palestinians clashed with the Israeli army during a demonstration in the village of Kafr Qaddum on May 10, 2019. Palestinians have marched every Friday and Saturday in the village of Kafr Qaddum since 2011, due to the closure of one of their roads and land confiscation by the Israeli authorities. These decisions were made to expand the Israeli settlement of Kedumim. On this road, Palestinians were able to reach the main city of Nablus in 15 minutes; now it takes more than 45 minutes.

A girl cries during her father's funeral organized by government opposition in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on October 16, 2019. The Haitian opposition on October 9 rejected President Jovenel Moise's appeal for dialogue, as the country's main cities remained paralyzed after more than a month of often violent protests. Over the past year, Haiti has sunk deeper into political crisis as anti-corruption protests demanding Moise's resignation roil the destitute Caribbean nation.

A boy is seen coming out of the sea after work removing oil spilled on Itapuam,a beach located in the city of Cabo de Santo Agostinho, Pernambuco, Brazil, on October 21, 2019. Large blobs of oil staining more than 130 beaches in northeastern Brazil began appearing in early September and have now turned up along a 2,000 km stretch of the Atlantic coastline. The source of the patches remains a mystery despite President Jair Bolsonaro's assertions that they came from outside the country and were possibly the work of criminals.

On January 15-16, 2019, a terrorist attack perpetrated at the DusitD2 complex in the Westlands area of Nairobi, Kenya, left more than 20 people dead. The attack occurred at the 14 Riverside Drive, where an upscale popular hotel, several restaurants and an office complex was located. Al-Shabaab –a terrorist, jihadist fundamentalist group based in East Africa – claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement that was released during the assault. They stated that the attack was "a response to US President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel."

DusitD2 TerrorAttack

The US border begins in southern Mexico. This is how Central American, Cuban, Haitian and African migrants tell the story of their journey to achieve the American dream. It all starts at the border between Mexico and Guatemala on makeshift rafts launched on the Rio Suchiate before walking for days on end and venturing out on La Bestia, the famous freight train that crosses the country. Avoiding the Mexican migration police, alone or in caravans, despite the long journey and the many dangers, thousands of migrants take this route every day to flee the gangs and violence in their countries. A migration route that changes from day to day, depending on the mood and politics of Donald Trump. The migrants themselves lose their money, their dignity and sometimes even their lives. This long-term story about the Mexican migration route began on the day of the inauguration of US President Donald Trump in 2017 and lasted the four years of his mandate.

The Southern Border

Between 2013 and 2018, South Sudan was completely overrun by civil war. After a failed attempt at peace in 2016, the country’s president Salva Kiir and his rival Riek Machar signed a revitalized peace agreement that aimed to form a unified transitional government in February of 2020. While relative peace has prevailed in much of the country, stumbling blocks have still hindered the process. Delays in the formation of a unified national army and disagreements over the number of states in the country and their boundaries have put the peace agreement on a delicate tightrope. Meanwhile the country's people have grown even more weary of the instability and uncertainty. These photographs were taken after the signing of the new peace agreement in 2018. They attempt to map out South Sudan’s delicate road to peace, documenting the individuals who are striving to build a life among the chaos that their country has brought them, and the soldiers that the country’s stability relies on.

South Sudan: The Road to Peace

Since August 1, 2018, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been dealing with the second largest outbreak of Ebola in the world and is said to be the most complex outbreak to date. There have been over 2,000 deaths so far and over 300 attacks on health facilities, which left four people dead and five injured. Health teams have to work under armed escort, resulting in even more confusion throughout the communities affected by Ebola.

Ebola: Democratic Republic of the Congo

On August 28, 2019, 70 miles from Misurata, the Mediterranea organization’s ship Mare Jonio rescued 98 shipwrecked migrants. Most of them suffered torture in Libya. After travelling for two nights, the migrants reported engine trouble. When the rubber dinghy started to deflate, 6 people died. The former Italian Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini refused to allow the rescue ship to enter Italian waters, leaving the Mare Jonio15 miles from Lampedusa for days. On August 29, the Coast Guard transshipped 64 people. The transshipment was carried out in the open sea, at night with high waves, which is why it has been dubbed “the transshipment of shame.” The Mare Jonio spent six days off coast with 34 other migrants on board, in poor sanitary conditions and without drinking water. These are the words spoken by the mission head after more than six days had passed:“Brothers and sisters, on a gagné.” The last 34 people left on the ship were evacuated.

On a gagné

Turkish world record-holder free-diver Sahika Ercumen during a training session before attempting to break the world record during the 90-meter women's cave diving (without fins) at the Gilindire Cave in Aydincik, a town in southern Turkey's Mersin province. Gilindire Cave is a glacier cave that is known as the 8th Wonder of the World.

An athlete competes in the women’s shotgun skeet event at the 2019 European Games in Minsk on July 26, 2019.

Xu Can (L) of China competes with Shun Kubo of Japan in a boxing match in Fuzhou, in China's eastern province of Jiangxi, on May 26, 2019. Xu Can succeeded in defending his World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight title after defeating challenger Shun Kubo of Japan by technical knockout (TKO) at Xu's hometown, Fuzhou, China.

An athlete competes in the women’s shotgun skeet event at the 2019 European Games in Minsk on July 26, 2019.

In his childhood Alexei Talai lost both his legs and arms in an accident. He tried to put out a fire, but there happened to be an old artillery shell in the burning room. It exploded and Alexei was seriously injured. Miraculously, he survived, but ahead of him lay a completely different life — surgery, rehabilitation and self-acceptance. Years later, Alexei became a master of sports in swimming, and a member of the Belarus Paralympic team. He also achieved a black belt in Taekwondo. Sport became a kind of psychological support for Alexei. He now has a big family with four children. The family is a very important part of his life. In addition to sports, Alexei is active in public life. He founded a charitable foundation, and successfully acts as a motivational speaker and coach. Alexei holds several world and European records. In September 2019, he set a world record in the 50m breaststroke at the Paralympic Swimming World Championships in London.

Talai’s story

18th FINA World Swimming Championships, Gwangju, South Korea.

18th FINA World Swimming Championships

Kushti or Pehlwani is a form of wrestling from the Indian Subcontinent. It was developed during the Mughal Empire. The practitioners of this sport are referred to as a Pehlwans while the teachers are known as Ustads. Kushti is taught at a training ground known as an Akhara, which is usually made of mud, clay mixed with oil and ground turmeric. Water is added every few days to keep it at the right consistency; soft enough to avoid injury but hard enough so as not to impede the wrestlers' movements. During wrestling or practice sessions, every wrestler has to wear Langot, a type of an attire consisting of a loincloth or underwear which is usually worn by the Indian mud wrestler before entering the Akhara. Kushti isn't just a sport — it's an ancient subculture where wrestlers live and train together and follow strict rules on everything from what they can eat to what they can do in their spare time. The focus is on living a pure life, building strength and honing their wrestling skills.

Kushti: The Art of Indian Mud Wrestling

Delian, 34, is a single father and a self-taught heavyweight boxer who earns a living through giving private boxing classes. He considers a decision by Haiti's boxing federation not to let him fight in tournaments as unfair, and he feels betrayed by the federation: "I guess it's all about who you know and it's all about who you are friends with. It is so hard to succeed in anything in this country." Delian says coach Daniel Edouard promised to send him on a tournament but later told him, "You are not capable." During an interview, Edouard said he saw Olympic potential in Delian.

Self-Taught Heavyweight Boxer

"Écumes" (sea foam in French) is a series of photographs capturing the different phases of a surfing session, from setting out on the open sea to returning ashore. The waves are frozen here and seem to be on the verge of devouring those who venture into them. The photos encapsulate the ephemeral state of the matter from which the wave is woven by capturing its textures and colors. The series questions man's place in nature and his use of it.

Sea Foam

A man collecting water from a hand pump on Mousuni Island while huge tidal waves roll in. A wall that once sheltered the pump from the waves has been destroyed by erosion. Tidal flooding has increased due to the rise in the sea level, causing extensive damage to the island.

Fishermen catching fish at Jamuna River in Bogra, Bangladesh.

When you look a humpback whale in the eye, it looks back at you, and you are struck by the realization that this is a sentient being. It is an otherworldly experience to share the ocean with these gentle giants, whose measurements defy description. The Polynesian archipelago has one of the world’s biggest whale populations. Tourists come from all over to marvel at their sheer size in person. Among the first countries to outlaw whaling, Tonga has been a leader in whale and marine conservation. The whale population around Polynesia has been growing gradually.

Budapest's downtown from above in the blue hour.

Parishioners of the Church of the All-Merciful Savior (Belokrinitsky Agreement community of Old Believers) are carrying a memorial cross to install it on the site of former Old Believers’ sketes. The Old Believers were, in fact, the first Russian settlers in the Middle Urals, where they helped make up the workforce of the Demidov factories. The Old Believers could live in relative safety there.

The Pink Festival is held in the city of Kolhapur, Maharashtra State, India.

Vorkuta is the fourth largest city beyond the Arctic Circle, the easternmost city in Europe. The main city area is surrounded by a dense ring of workers' settlements. Almost as soon as Vorkuta was founded, it became home to one of the largest Gulag camps, to which prisoners from all over the world were exiled. By 1951 there were 73,000 people in the camp, including foreigners. That is why the city was given a second, unofficial name “capital of the world.” Vorkuta's population is rapidly shrinking — it ranks first in the country in terms of the rate of population decline. While in the 1990s more than 110,000 people lived here, now it has a population of less than 60,000. The villages built beside the mines were the first to die out. Nowadays, most of them look like ghost towns. People leave their houses and apartments, throwing away furniture and other items that are too expensive to transport from this remote corner of Russia. They leave their personal histories and their former lives behind them in Vorkuta.

The capital of a disappearing world (long-term project)

Aerial photography – all photos were taken from a helicopter using medium format cameras. Bauxite ore is the world’s primary source of aluminum. It has a characteristic reddish tint because of its high aluminum oxide and hydroxide content. For this reason, bauxite is particularly suitable for aluminum production – also against the background of the increasing demand for aluminum worldwide, because bauxite is an efficient method of manufacturing the metal. Nonetheless, the processing of bauxite involves high energy consumption, and the escape of a lot of heat. It also requires the use of large areas of the land which will need to be rehabilitated in the future. The mining areas, which are usually several hectares in size, are controversial, but if you look at them from an aerial perspective, especially the tailing ponds, they look like huge abstract oil paintings.

The face of bauxite mining – the source of our aluminum Kevin Krautgartner

Raised in the tundra, Yelena learned sewing from her grandma and hunting from her father. After leaving her husband, she moved to Tazovsky. At first, she sewed to support her children, but went on to become an acclaimed designer of traditional Nenets clothing and a steward of her culture. Her work earned her recognition from the Italian Vogue. She is proud of her culture and wants to promote it.

Yelena

Following the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the United States imposed sanctions against Iran. In 2006, following discussions around the Iranian Nuclear Program, the US, UN and other Western nations expanded the sanctions. The restrictions hobbled Iran’s economy and led to widespread pessimism among Iranians about their future. I photographed this series in the streets of Tehran at the peak of the sanctions period between 2018 and 2019. In recent years, many problems have arisen in people’s lives as a result of the pressure of sanctions on the one hand and the economic mismanagement of the country on the other. During this time, people lived constantly under the shadow of war. They also witnessed their purchasing power decrease as the prices went up daily. For me, the street scenes represent the deep inner life of Iranian society. On the streets, on buses, and in the subways, I saw people, so immersed in their thoughts, that their surroundings lost all meaning, ceased to exist, leaving them lost, frightened and not knowing what to do.

Distorted horizons

With a population of more than 200 million people and an emerging middle class, Nigeria is witnessing a boom in demand for meat that offers potential but also poses risks to the Fulani nomadic and semi-nomadic herders who provide most of the country’s beef. Climate change is turning the semi-arid land which is usually used for grazing, into a desert, prompting the migration of the Fulani communities. This, as well as increased demand for land in Nigeria, has exacerbated tensions between farmers, who are predominantly Christian, and herdsmen, who are mainly Muslim. The conflict is far from straightforward, with frustrations on both sides: farmers see their crops destroyed by livestock, while Fulani herdsmen see their way of life under threat as grazing land is repurposed for agriculture. The clashes have occurred on West Africa's historic Muslim-Christian fault line. Yet the conflict goes beyond religion, bringing into focus issues like population growth and climate change in fuelling disputes over land.

Grazing Smoke, Harvesting Fear Luis Tato

Wrangel Island is the northernmost protected island in the Russian Arctic. The Arctic Ocean divides the island almost into two parts at Meridian 180, so it is located in the Western and Eastern hemispheres of our planet. Visiting Wrangel Island Nature Reserve is restricted, but there are about 10 tourist routes in summer and autumn. Tourists can only enter the reserve accompanied by rangers. They monitor the safety of the tourists and animals that live on the island. This photo depicts Pavel Kulemeyev, a researcher at Wrangel Island Nature Reserve, in his "natural habitat." Pavel graduated from Katanov Khakassia State University and has been working in the reserve since January 2018 – now he is not only a scientist and inspector at the reserve, but also a polar explorer. After all, the conditions on the island are really tough.

Valentina is one of the four remaining civilians living in the frontline town of Pesky, one of the most dangerous places along the frontline. Although she lives on government-controlled territory, she is a passionate separatist with framed photos of Putin and Russian flags lining her walls. Without electricity, running water or friends, she relies entirely on the Ukrainian soldiers living next door to survive. She calls it "living from the hand of the enemy." With no hope for the future and nothing but bitter hatred keeping her alive, Valentina has only her cat for company. She wishes to one day see her grandchildren, who live only a few kilometers away in the separatist territory. "I wish this war would sink into the ground, down to hell where it belongs. The land is covered in bullets, shrapnel and landmines and is drenched in the tears and blood of those who died. I soak my clothes in tears from sunrise to sunset.”

Batman in his car sending a voice message as he leaves the hospital. For the past six years, every first Friday of the month an unknown man gets home from work only to suit up again – but this time to put on his supersuit – and goes to pay a visit to the Children’s Hospital in La Plata, Argentina. He has a very special goal: to share joyful moments and spend quality time with the patients. These patients are children who can be just months old and up to 16 years old. Batman seeks to ease the suffering of these boys and girls during a hard time in their lives. His utility belt is equipped with color pencils and coloring books, which he leaves as gifts for the kids. During his visits he’s always accompanied by a sister from the hospital convent. The sister informs him about each child’s condition. Twice a year he hosts his famous “bat-meetings,” special social events to help raise funds for the hospital. Our local dark knight keeps on writing his legacy.

Cynthia is 16 years old and lives in a vulnerable neighborhood in Tucumán, Argentina. She struggles with addiction and does not go to school. In Argentina, adolescents live daily with vulnerability issues such as drug, alcohol and cigarette abuse, unwanted pregnancies and domestic violence. Argentina doesn’t have a state policy seeking to improve the lives of these teenagers.

Sanjid Islam Supta, a cosplayer dressed as the Joker, took part in a cosplay competition organized by St. Joseph Higher Secondary School in Dhaka, Bangladesh on September 28, 2019. Cosplay, or costume play, has evolved into an independent art form in Bangladesh and around the world. The trend has spread through many comic or pop culture conventions and online platforms. Young people find it fascinating as it helps them to experience life through the eyes of their favorite characters.

Quatrani is the local term for “youngsters" in the Italian city of l'Aquila. It has been ten years since the earthquake that shook the Italian city, causing hundreds of deaths and injuries and leaving many people homeless. The children of what is now known as The Forbidden City have turned 18 years of age. They have grown up without a hometown, a safe place they can call “home.” Nevertheless, these children have managed to find a sense of belonging in the bond they share with one another. They started to give the name “home” to the solid friendship they have built by going through the same experience with remarkable strength. “When an earthquake takes away the place you are from, you need to find it again. You need to find it where there is not a thing in sight and you have nothing more to hope for but the company of your family and friends. Find home in those who love you.” “The earthquake was sort of Year One. People don’t say, for example, ‘it happened in 2006,’ but they either refer to ‘pre-earthquake’ or ‘post-earthquake.’” (Voices of the young people who lived through those times.)

Quatrani Danilo Garcia Di Meo

In a society like mine, there are always plenty of diverse options and approaches to thinking and acting, which inevitably contradict each other. Shortly after the Islamic Revolution (1979), it became mandatory for every woman to wear a hijab in public, a procedure challenged by many activists and remaining somewhat controversial even today. The collection that you see (I named it "The Smarties") includes photographs of Iranian girls that I met during my wanderings in Tehran. I was watching them and asked myself what influence color had on the formation of their identity. They represent the generation of the 1990s (and some 1980s). In my view, the Smarties are usually fighters, courageous and libertarian, who see their body as a clean sheet or a blank canvas on which any image can be created. Each of them can rivet my attention for hours. I watch them, I think about them, and I listen to their unique stories.

The Smarties

The series of portraits shot in Espinar district, near the huge Tintaya and Antapaccay copper mine complex, tells the story of Peruvian people affected by environmental pollution caused by the mining. The colored backgrounds represent their feeling of hope. In last few years, mineral extraction has become a backbone of the economy, replacing the agricultural economy in local communities. At the same time, the rights of the indigenous population have been violated. Malnutrition and contaminated resources affect people’s health, and many children are born with mental and physical disabilities. However, there is no health care system to help them. The Peruvian Constitution stipulates respect for the territories and cultural identities of these communities, but this is not complied with, leading to violent suppression of social protest by the police. Land exploitation is a common problem in Latin America and it shows how a new form of colonialism is creating profit by spoiling local communities.

Contaminated Colors

This ongoing series documents the Bediya of India, who practice the ancient art Bahurupi, meaning many (bahu) forms (rupa). Bediya are “untouchables” from the lower caste and can only find menial jobs. To survive they move around the country performing as once popular mythological characters who are all but forgotten today.

Bahurupi – people with many faces Santanu Dey