Pep Bonet

City of Rest (CORE) drug rehabilitation center, Sierra Leone.

“For me it has always been about a step into the unknown and learning through photography. Most of the time I don’t prepare my stories. I just go to a place and try to have time enough to really have an experience so I have no prejudice.”  So says Pep Bonet,  a member of Noor Images. His project ‘Faith in Chaos’, is an ongoing photo essay about the aftermath of the war in Sierra Leone. He was the 2005 winner of the Eugene Smith Humanistic Grant. His work has been published in Newsweek, New York Times, US News and World Report, The Times (UK), MSF (Medecins Sans frontieres), Corriere della Sera, El Pais, EPS Harper’s, Ultima Hora, PDN, American Photo, Zoom and numerous other publications.

About the Photograph:

“A patient washing himself at the City of Rest (CORE) drug rehabilitation center. The Deliverance Ministry runs the center, which offers counseling and support for recovering drug addicts, alcoholics and traumatized or delinquent youths. The ministry tries to address problems of addiction, delinquency and even cases of demonic possession with rest, food and prayer. My journey to Sierra Leone in April 2002 caused a decisive turn in my professional life and thinking. I saw how faith enabled people to see perspective in even the most inhumane of circumstances, and I started my “Faith in Chaos” project. My explorations in Sierra Leone of the sources and the strength of faith continue, and with even more urgency now that the country is reaching a new milestone.”