Capturing the Violent and Complex Birth of South Sudan

Trevor Snapp is an African-based photographer who has done a lot of work for VICE over the past couple of years. Most recently, he shot photos of Mexico's new youth movement, #YoSoy132, for us. Now Trevor is working on a book with his friend, Alan Boswell, chronicling the birth of South Sudan. He's started a fundraising campaign, as with everything, he needs more money. We asked Trevor to send us a few words about his project, and this is what he said.

Alan Boswell and I have been reporting on South Sudan since 2009. We went there expecting to witness the birth of a new country out of the world's longest civil war. The diplomats and NGOs rebuilding the country called it peace, but Alan and I found something much more complex and violent—something that looked a lot like war. Tribal conflict, child abductions, profiteering, US contractors from Iraq, an increasing amount of refugees, corrupt ex-rebel leaders, and millions of guns have all contributed to making South Sudan a country engulfed in violence and corruption. It is a country at war with itself, and since its independence last year, at war again with the North.

Peace remains possible, and over the next several months Alan, a writer for McClatchy newspapers, and myself, a photographer with Corbis, will be documenting what happens here. We are making a new kind of book exploring both the horror and the beauty of a mesmerizing country that can't seem to shake the ghosts of war. The book will be for the iPad, the web, and eventually print. We will publish it in stages. The first part will be released in July, and we will use reader feedback to update and change the book as we continue to write and photographs its stories.

To do this, we need to raise $10,000 by Saturday. Every dollar you pledge up to $10,000 will be matched by the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting. For $15, you can get a digital copy of the book and help keep independent investigative journalism alive.

Check out their video and donate here!