Karenni soldiers take shelter inside a drainage ditch as a mortar shell explodes close by during heavy clashes on April 16, in the village of Daw Nyay Khu, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. The photo was taken by photojournalist Siegfried Modola, who won an international award for his work covering the civil war in Myanma, including for The Globe and Mail.Siegfried Modola
Photojournalist Siegfried Modola has won a prestigious international award for his work covering the civil war in Myanmar, including a photo essay for The Globe and Mail.
Mr. Modola, an independent British-Italian photojournalist and documentary photographer living in Paris, said the Visa d’or News award gives visibility to an important story he’s been covering for the past two years.
“It’s not easy because of the major stories around the world, Ukraine and everything else,” he said in a phone interview Sunday. “Myanmar is a little bit of a forgotten conflict.”
Foreign journalists have been banned from Myanmar since it descended into civil war in early 2021. But over several trips in the past year, Mr. Modola spent months with insurgent groups in the junta-controlled country. In September, 2022, on an assignment for The Globe, he crossed into Myanmar and accompanied a local militia unit on a four-day journey through water, jungle, mountain ranges, and valleys to the front line.
A Karenni soldier fires his weapon during fierce clashes against units of Myanmar’s military on April 17, 2023, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar (Burma). This Karenni soldier was less thna 30 meters away from the enemy positions and the intense gun fight lasted for over three hours, until sun down.Siegfried Modola
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Bullet holes pierce the front screen of a vehicle belonging to a unit of Karenni soldiers during clashes with Myanmar's military, on April 16, 2023, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. After a large-scale offensive in March that saw the junta trying to dislodge Karenni fighters from their strongholds achieved limited results, the regime now appears focused on seizing control of the state main's roads and strategic junctions to potentially choke resistance groups from fighting.Siegfried Modola
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Karenni soldiers take shelter inside a drainage ditch as a mortar shell explodes close by during heavy clashes on April 16, 2023, in the village of Daw Nyay Khu, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. Several mortar shells landed a few minutes apart, injuring one Karenni soldier, as others took shelter in this ditch.Siegfried Modola
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A Karenni commander removes the spent cartridge of a 40mm grenade from a grendade launcher attached to his AK47 assault rifle during intense clashes against units of Myanmar’s military on April 17, 2023 in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. The control of Kayah is of great importance to the regime as it will allow it to divide the resistance. However, the junta has struggled to cut off resistance supply lines and prevent Karenni fighters from threatening the state’s key strategic locations.Siegfried Modola
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Men attend to a critically injured Karenni soldier during clashes with Myanmar's military on April 22, 2023, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. The soldier was shot during a close-range gunfight with the junta inside a forested area. The bullet pierced his liver, but he allegedly survived after being treated by paramedics and then transported to a Karenni military field hospital.Siegfried Modola
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A former Karenni soldier who lost both legs after stepping on a landmine is being helped by his friend in a rehabilitation centre on October 17, 2022, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. Many victims of landmine explosions end up at this centre, built in a secret location for fear of air strikes by Tatmadaw forces. With antipersonnel landmines banned since 1997, it’s a flagrant breach of international law that the Tatmadaw has placed mines on a large scale in and around towns, villages, rice paddies and urban areas. They’ve killed and wounded countless soldiers and civilians and will make it impossible for thousands of internally displaced people to return home.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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Children mourn their father, who was killed during clashes with the military junta, during his funeral on October 29, 2022, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. Most of Kayah state's population is already displaced and urgently needs assistance, with reports indicating a severe shortage of food and medicine.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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Children hide in their school bomb shelter during an emergency drill in case of mortar shelling by government forces based a few kilometres from their town, on October 24, 2022, Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. The children do regular emergency drills in case of an attack as their town has been bombed three times in one year.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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Displaced civilians flee to the border with Thailand in eastern Kayah state, Myanmar, on April 05, 2023. Thousands of civilians have left their homes, not knowing if they will ever be able to come back since the start of the war.Siegfried Modola
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Displaced civilians flee to the border with Thailand during the night of April 05, 2023, in eastern Kayah state, Myanmar. Their village had been attacked, and most homes burnt by the military.Siegfried Modola
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Karenni soldiers fighting against the Tatmadaw armed forces stand on an outcrop overlooking a valley on October 09, 2022, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. Kayah state lies in a highly strategic area of the country, serving as a bridge between resistance strongholds to the south and north. It borders Thailand to the east—a source of weapons and other supplies and Shan State in the north, where the country’s most powerful armed groups operate.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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Schoolchildren have lunch during a feeding programme organised by a local women's group on October 05, 2022, in a camp for the internally displaced near Demoso town, Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. Whether the Karenni resistance can sustain the fight will depend, in large part, on its ability to see the population through a worsening humanitarian crisis.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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A steady stream of recruits undergo three months of training at one of the Karenni Army’s main bases close to the border with Thailand on September 21, 2022, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. Karenni soldiers have remained motivated, fighting to defend their families and homes.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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Karenni soldiers fighting Myanmar’s military wash in a stream during a four-day march from the border with Thailand to the centre of Kayah state on September 29, 2022, in eastern Myanmar. Local fighters benefit from their knowledge of the terrain, making it easier to launch surprise ambushes and escape junta attacks.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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Karenni soldiers display weapons and ammunition taken from the enemy during fierce clashes with Myanmar's military on April 21, 2023, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. On the same day, the unit's commander sold the entire cache of confiscated weapons and ammunition to another allied armed group fighting against the military to secure funds to purchase a four-wheel drive vehicle for his own men.Siegfried Modola
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Karenni soldiers walk towards burning homes moments after multiple airstrikes in the village of Daw Nyah Khu, on April 17, 2023, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. With air and artillery support, junta columns attacked from the north and south, destroying several villages. However, a Karenni counter-attack in late March inflicted heavy losses on junta units, which were forced to withdraw from the area. Karenni soldiers kept assaulting and pushing back the regime’s positions in April and May.Siegfried Modola
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Ashes are left from the remains of homes burnt by Myanmar’s military, on April 14, 2023, in Daw Ta Ma Gyi village in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. Regime forces have been conducting punishment attacks, sending units of well-armed soldiers, about one hundred strong, burning villages, attacking resistance bases, and killing civilians —a deliberate campaign of atrocities aimed to bring the cost of the resistance to the civilian population.Siegfried Modola
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Karenni soldiers walk next to the body of a soldier from Myanmar's military after fierce clashes between the two groups on April 18, 2023, in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. One of the primary attacks by regime forces during the March offensive in Kayah State focused on the area around Daw Ta Ma Gyi in Demoso Township—a Karenni resistance stronghold.Siegfried Modola
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A homemade rifle-propelled grenade explodes prematurely as a Karenni soldier test fires the weapon on October 03, 2022, near Demoso in Kayah state, eastern Myanmar. The soldier and a video journalist filming the scene were wounded by shrapnel in the incident.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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Karenni soldiers fighting Myanmar’s military cross a river during a four-day from near the border with Thailand to the centre of Kayah state on September 27, 2022, in eastern Myanmar. The soldiers carry the bare essentials in small waterproof backpacks including a blanket, a hammock, utensils, a metal container for cooking, and some rice, chillies and dried sardines, which are light to carry and pack lots of energy.Siegfried Modola/The Globe and Mail
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The resulting photo essay, titled “Inside Myanmar’s armed uprising,” was published in The Globe on Dec. 6, 2022. Mr. Modola has since gone back to Myanmar independently.
“This global win, historic in its nature for The Globe and Mail, is down to an extraordinarily determined team of professionals,” said the paper’s editor-in-chief, David Walmsley.
“Mr. Modola’s intrepid assignment and the skill of his eye gave us images the world hadn’t previously seen from deep inside the Myanmar jungle,” Mr. Walmsley said. “We salute his mentor Goran Tomasevic and editor Liz Sullivan for their tireless work supporting him as he undertook the arduous assignment. It is award-winning portfolios like this that galvanize both staff and audience alike and we couldn’t be prouder.”
The Visa d’or News, awarded during the Visa pour l’image festival in the French city of Perpignan this weekend, comes with a prize of €8,000. The other nominees for the award were photojournalists Tyler Hicks and Michael Bunel for work published in The New York Times and Le Pictorium, respectively.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has spiralled back into civil war since the armed forces removed the civilian government in February, 2021. It was the end of a brief stretch of democratic rule, the former British colony’s first since a coup led by General Ne Win in 1962.
Citizens from all walks of life have joined a massive countrywide protest that has collapsed Myanmar’s public institutions and strained its economy to the breaking point. Many have joined the shadow National Unity Government; thousands more have joined civilian militias and other ethnic armed groups.
In the face of widespread opposition, the junta, led by ethnic-majority Burmans, has responded brutally and indiscriminately against the civilian population, killing thousands.
On assignment, Mr. Modola met with soldiers from the Karenni Army, who come from eastern Myanmar, in Kayah State. The Karenni, a predominantly Catholic minority, are battling alongside the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force and other militia groups to return Myanmar to democratic rule.
His winning portfolio includes pictures of civilian life under the junta’s constant threat, a gruelling trek in the jungle, and the front line. Mr. Modola’s personal favourite shot is one of Karenni soldiers taking shelter inside a drainage ditch as a mortar shell explodes close by.
“You see one guy just looking up and you see his eyes, and in the background, you see dust rising. That’s a mortar shell that just fell a couple of seconds before,” the photojournalist said. “There were mortars falling all over the place, one of the soldiers got injured and they were very close. I think this picture really showed the reality of what kind of conflict we’re talking about, you know, guerrilla warfare.”
The picture was not included in the photo essay published last December as it was taken in April of this year on a subsequent trip.
