Stéphanie Buret

Reportage, 2016

Dolce Vita in hell

Eritrea was colonized by Italians and Asmara has a beautiful modernist heritage despite war. Some old italian cinemas are still in use.

asmara modernist dolce vita dante hell cinema italian

Every summer, emigrants are coming back in their country for holidays. Behind the counter, Saba is listening to stories. She is also dreaming of leaving the country. Meanwhile, she is working in this Art déco Café. It looks nice but electricity is out of order for a few hours, like every day. No water neither. Here, she is waiting for the power to come back in order to serve the customers.

power art deco cafe asmara

In Medebar Market, women are working in very bad conditions. They are making red chilly powder and dust is everywhere. So, they have lung problems.

asmara medebar market chilly

On the 1st of August 2015, the cyclist Daniel Teklehaimanot is coming back home. He was the first Eritrean who participates at the Tour de France and win a mountain stage. For people, being a champion is the only way to escape the country legally. So, a lot of people are cycling.

eritrea flag asmara

The country is like a big open jail. Like a others communist countries, they are a lot of nationalist propaganda.

propaganda communist war

A lot of ethiopian tanks are scattering all the eritrean territory.

tank ethiopian eritrea

Projektbeschrieb


Asmara is the capital city of Eritrea, vitrine of art deco architecture built by the Italian Colonization. The heritage is almost undamaged despite the war against Ethiopia. The new nation was created when the independence was proclaimed in 1993. But nothing has changed neither the development of the country. A frozen world. Despite the Eritrean are very proud of their nation, they are all trying to leave the country because of one of the worst dictatorship in the world and the national military service that never ends. Meanwhile, on the surface, people in the streets seem to live a « dolce vita » dronking macchiato in cafeteria. But silence is the power. Freedom and individuality are denied and the economy is at point zero. As a result, the diaspora is constantly increasing. Eritrea is one of the country where a lot of the migrants, trying to reach Europe, are coming from.
Freedom of the press is one the worse in the world and journalists and photographers are banned from entering the country.

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Titel der Arbeit
Dolce Vita in hell