This powerful portrait of a Tigrayan woman carrying a friend’s child was taken in Mekele, capital city of the Ethiopian region of Tigray, during the deadly war that ended with the signing of a peace deal in 2022. The collector was there with Ben Curtis, both of them on duty for The Associated Press. Ben, a gifted photographer, captures the spirit of Tigray in this picture that juxtaposes the girl’s unknowing joy with the woman’s certain grief as she recounts the sexual assaults carried out by the Eritreans fighting alongside Ethiopian forces.
