PETER CATON

Peter Caton is an award-winning documentary photographer who has dedicated his career to reporting on humanitarian causes and amplifying the voices of disadvantaged people. He has lived on the road for 19 years, the last ten in Africa, where he has documented climate-related crises throughout the continent.

In Unyielding Floods, Peter photographs villagers trying to protect their homes and livelihoods against the catastrophic floods in South Sudan which are still ongoing. Over five years, Peter returned to these historic floods that have refused to recede, capturing the struggles of the villagers, their resilience and their heartache.

Peter first captured the floods in 2020, by 2021 nearly 1.2 million were affected by them. The rise of flooding emerged in South Sudan during a time of extreme tension as the country struggled to heal from a recent civil war that left close to 400,000 individuals dead. When the floods emerged in 2019, villagers became trapped by new water borders, unable to flee outbreaks of civil unrest. Other villages were destroyed by the floods, creating massive displacement. Refugee camps became cut off by water. The economic damage of this climate crisis is estimated to be £542 million. Crops failed as livestock perished, increasing widespread famine, but the hearts of the people remained resilient as they transformed their riverside villages into proficient canoe-commuting communities. Today, there is sadly no sign of the water receding. Towns resemble an everlasting sea with the roofs of people’s homes protruding from the murky waters. The images that Peter has captured are a heartbreaking reality for the people in South Sudan, a heartbreaking reality that deserves public awareness.

“One displacement camp basically looks like an island, surrounded by water, and only protected by these  dykes,” said Ms Hallqist. “There is no road in or out.”

The work followed on from an assignment commissioned by the non-profit Action Against Hunger and has gained recognition as one of the most significant flood photo essays of the past decade. The series has been published in magazines in 8 countries and was exhibited in a solo show in London’s OXO Gallery, where almost 4,500 people visited the show in 10 days. This success has already helped to raise crucial awareness and funding for otherwise forgotten people suffering in remote areas of Africa. The work also documents a new hope, capturing innovative programs such as introducing rice farming, where women are taught and encouraged to grow rice in flood waters. Rice farming mitigates the threat of hunger while providing a safer option to gather food, as villagers had previously resorted to collecting water lilies in crocodile-infested water.

These images won 7 international awards last year and have been featured in major news outlets, including The Sunday Times, NPR, The Guardian, The Telegraph, De Morgen, Der Spiegel, GEO France, GEO Germany, VG, The Geographical, The Independent, El Pais, and Corriere Della Sera. They have been exhibited in London, Berlin, Moscow, Paris, New York, Tokyo, and Istanbul.