American Photography 42 Winners

SUDAN: Starvation, Destruction & Hopelessness

These assignments document one of the world’s most underreported wars. Since April 2023, Sudan has been fractured by conflict, displacing millions and pushing parts of the country toward famine—largely out of global view. The work looks beyond the front lines, tracing how people endure as systems collapse, from displacement camps in eastern Sudan to the ruins of Khartoum and the vast settlements of Darfur. This is about bearing witness: ensuring that, even as the war fades from attention, the lives shaped by it are not lost or reduced to statistics.

Killed in Khartoum

Sudan’s latest civil war has now been raging for over two years and, to date, has left tens of thousands dead. The fighting erupted on the streets of Khartoum in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the country's military, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group that former Sudanese leader General Omar Bashir created to quell anti-Arab insurgents in the Darfur region approximately 25 years earlier. Since 2023, some 12 million Sudanese have been displaced with parts of the country now under famine conditions.