Man collecting sea urchins on Thitu island. Philippine-occupied territory, South China Sea, 2024
Filipino fisherman at Scarborough Shoal. Chinese-occupied territory, South China Sea, 2024
Chinese dissidents carrying statue of Goddess of Democracy. California, USA, 2020
Ethnic Mongolian refugee from China with his truck. He specifically chose the number plate 8964 to commemorate the Tiananmen Square incident on June 4, 1989. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 2023
Ethnic Kazakh refugee holding the portraits of her three missing sons. She hasn't heard of them since seven years, when they were arrested and put in concentration camps in China's western province Xinjiang. Almaty, Kazakhstan, 2022
Chinese gold miner with his gun in the Amazon. Brownsberg, Suriname, 2023
Chinese copper miners. Bor, Serbia, 2020
Caretaker of the cemetery praying for the souls of Chinese men who perished constructing the Karakoram Highway. Danyor, Pakistan, 2022
Pakistani soldier at checkpoint guarding the city of Gwadar, an important geostrategic location on China's New Silk Road. Gwadar, Pakistan, 2022
Woman crying at the grave of her son who was beaten to death by fellow conscripts while in the military. Tajikistan, 2022
Karenni Army soldier in the jungle. Myanmar, 2023
Nurses scream in fear while hiding in a bomb shelter during an attack by fighter jets of the government army. Demoso, Myanmar, 2023
Captured government soldiers tied to a tree. Loikaw, Myanmar, 2023
Sick Karenni fighter on the front line. Loikaw, Myanmar 2023
Karenni resistance fighter who stepped on a landmine while storming a junta position. Demoso, Myanmar, 2023
Karenni sniper cleaning his gun. Loikaw, Myanmar, 2023
Body of dead government soldier. Loikaw, Myanmar, 2023
Young family mourning a Karenni fighter killed by a sniper of the military junta. Demoso, Myanmar, 2023
Karenni refugees crossing into Thailand by night. Myanmar, 2023
Exhausted mother and her four year old daughter resting. After their village was destroyed, they fled in the middle of night on foot through the jungle into Thailand. Myanmar, 2023
Karenni fighters marching towards the front. Myanmar, 2023
Girl holding baby. Ghor, Afghanistan, 2008
Aftermath of Taleban suicide bombing of Indian Embassy. Kabul, Afghanistan, 2008
Girl wounded in NATO bombing of wedding. Jalalabad, Afghanistan, 2008
Aftermath of Taleban attack. Afghanistan, 2008
Drug addict. Kabul, Afghanistan, 2008
Russian cultural center destroyed during the civil war. Kabul, Afghanistan, 2008
The royal Darul Aman Palace was destroyed during the civil war. Kabul, Afghanistan, 2008
Afghan police fleeing after undetonated explosives on the body of a dead Taleban fighter is found. Kabul, Afghanistan, 2009
Blood of Taleban killed in fighting. Kabul, Afghanistan, 2009
American soldiers on patrol. Kunar, Afghanistan, 2009
American soldiers on patrol. Kunar, Afghanistan, 2009
Girl holding sheeplegs. Wakhan corridor, Afghanistan, 2009
Kyrgyz boy with his favorite stick in Bozai Gumbaz, former Soviet outpost. Wakhan corridor, Afghanistan, 2009
Wakhi mother and her child milking sheep in the Pamir mountains. Wakhan corridor, Afghanistan, 2009
Kyrgyz girl herding yak in Bozai Gumbaz, former Soviet outpost. Wakhan corridor, Afghanistan, 2009
Girl in field of barley. Wakhan corridor, Afghanistan, 2009
Girls looking for cattle. Wakhan corridor, Afghanistan, 2009
Daily life in the Wakhan corridor. Afghanistan, 2009
Daily life in the Wakhan corridor. Afghanistan, 2009
Kyrgyz man smoking opium in his yurt. Wakhan corridor, Afghanistan, 2009
Old man with broken glasses. Yakawlang, Afghanistan, 2008
Sufi in trance during ritual. Kabul, Afghanistan, 2009
Hope. Kabul, 2008
Child in refugee camp. Kabul, 2008
Men smoking heroin. Kabul, Afghanistan, 2008
Heroin addict. Kabul, Afghanistan, 2008
Pelican on the bazaar. Kabul, 2011
The buddha's of Bamyan destroyed by the Taleban. Afghanistan, 2008
Planet earth. Afghanistan, 2008
Woman begging in snow. Herat, Afghanistan, 2008
Iranian-Afghan border, 2008
Siberia, Russia, 2010
Moscow, Russia, 2010
Siberian winter. Near Chita, Russia, 2010
Tibetan woman removing snow so her yaks can eat grass. Sichuan, China, 2005
Long-horn Miao. Guizhou, China, 2005
Man carrying bamboo. Guizhou, China, 2004
Miao family. Guizhou, China, 2004
Miao family around fireplace. Guizhou, China, 2004
Yi farmer. Liangshan, China, 2019
Yi shaman drinking during ritual. Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, China, 2019
Yi woman watches over her pigs. Liangshan, China, 2019
Rice terraces in the mist. Yuanyang, China 2005
Huangshan / Yellow Mountain. China, 2010
Yangtze river. China, 2015
Wuhan, China, 2015
Cormorant fisher. Hong Hu, China, 2015
Yangtze finless porpoise in research centre. China, 2015
Three generations and the Three Gorges Dam. China, 2015
Ship elevator at the Three Gorges Dam. China, 2015
Farmer in front of real estate project threatening to swallow his land. Wuhan, China, 2015
Chongqing, China, 2015
Pupil training at acrobatics school. China, 2015
Boy at internment camp crying while calling his father. China, 2019
Pupils on Red Army School. China, 2015
Married couple in Dwarf Empire amusement park. China, 2015
Dwarf Empire amusement park. China, 2015
Child sleeping on fishing boat. Hong Hu, China, 2015
The Bund. Shanghai, China, 2015
Chinese New Year celebrations. Puding, China, 2006
Rich second generation at nightclub. Shanghai, China, 2015
Young lady after cosmetic surgery. Shanghai, China, 2015
Man looking for partner holding advertisement about himself. Kunming, China, 2015
Couple arguing about the terms of their separation. The trial is held at their front door. Chongqing, China, 2019
Man drinking tea under the watchful eyes of Mao Zedong and Xi Jinping. China, 2015
Yi students at school. Liangshan, China, 2019
Portrait of Mao Zedong. Yunnan, China, 2015
Farmer at his rice terraces. Yunnan, China, 2005
Children playing in rice terraces. Yuanyang, China, 2005
Medicine man of Miao ethnic minority. Yunnan, China, 2015
Water buffalo that died during bull fight at ethnic Miao festivities. Guizhou, China, 2004
Ethnic Yao man offering me a cigarette. Yunnan, China, 2005
Basha Miao boy with his dog. Guizhou, China, 2004
Yao girl. Yunnan, China, 2005
Tibetan boy bringing yaks back to camp. Sichuan, China, 2006
Wounded horse kicking up dust. Inner Mongolia, China, 2017
Open pit coal mine. Inner Mongolia, China, 2017
Lanzhou New Area. Gansu, China, 2016
Lanzhou New Area. Gansu, China, 2016
Shenzhen, China, 2017
Live streamer Lucky. Beijing, China, 2017
Jin Xing imitator. Beijing, China, 2017
Kung Fu training. Shaolin, China, 2017
Taoist hermit. Zhongnan Shan, China, 2017
Terminally ill man at home. Hunan, China, 2017
Family at funeral. Shaanxi, China, 2017
Man holding a portrait of his deceased and unmarried uncle, for whom a ghost marriage was arranged. He was buried with an inflatable doll. Shaanxi, China, 2017
Effigies for a funeral. Shaanxi, China, 2017
Burial ceremony where paper money, cars, iPhones and houses are burned to comfort the spirit of the deceased. Shaanxi, China, 2017
Man building tower to reach heaven and his deceased family. Shandong, China, 2016
Hu Guangzhou looking proudly at his self-built tower. Shandong, China, 2016
Hu Guangzhou climbing his tower. He believes the tower will bring him to heaven and reunite him with his deceased family. Shandong, China, 2016
Hu Guangzhou holding improvised iron nails for his tower. Shandong, China, 2016
Hu Guangzhou looking in the mirror. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia but ran away from the psychiatric treatment center. Shandong, China, 2016
Notebook of Hu Guangzhou with drawings of his tower. Shandong, China, 2016
Hu Guangzhou cooking. Months later fire broke out and destroyed his home. He was then forcefully taken to live at the psychiatric hospital again. Shandong, China, 2016
Cancer patients waiting in line to be registered for treatment at Acharya Tulsi hospital. Bikaner, India, 2023
Swaroop and her father. Due to a delay in diagnosis the bone cancer had already spread to her lungs. She passed away a week after this photo was taken. Bikaner, India, 2023
Young patients hiding in bomb shelter of paediatric cancer hospital during air raid alarm. Lviv, Ukraine, 2022
Doctors in a fortified operation theatre amputate the leg of Ukrainian soldier. Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, 2022
First aid team attending crime scene where drug runner was liquidated. Tijuana, Mexico, 2021
Chinese doctor posing with his patient who received free treatment. Former Taiwanese hospital, Honiara, Solomon Islands, 2023
Chinese women taking selfies with Kenyan children at a charity event. Nairobi, Kenya, 2019
Solomon Islander guarding destroyed property of his Chinese boss after Chinatown was burned down by angry protesters. Honiara, Solomon Islands, 2023
Railway employee standing on the platform at Vientiane railway station on the newly constructed Laos-China railway. Laos, 2022
Youth playing in their new village after they had to relocate for the Laos-China railway. Laos, 2022
Monument erected to symbolize the prosperity China's New Silk Road will bring to the country. Nurkent, Kazakhstan, 2022
Lady in banquet hall. Huaxi, China, 2024
Man taking photo of Mao Zedong. Nanjie, China, 2024
Youth posing under a portrait of Joseph Stalin. Nanjie, China, 2024
Man in restaurant in front of a map of the South China Sea and the nine-dash line. Tanmen, China, 2024
“Mijn missie als filmmaker en fotograaf is om menselijke veerkracht, waardigheid en hoop vast te leggen, gedragen door mijn geloof in menselijkheid en de kracht van empathie. Ik geef een stem aan minderheden en documenteer de realiteit van conflict en oorlog, om de samenleving te confronteren met de gevolgen ervan en een bijdrage te leveren aan ons collectieve geheugen. Al meer dan 20 jaar ligt de focus van mijn werk langs de Oude en Nieuwe Zijderoutes; in het bijzonder de opkomst van China, de geopolitieke spanningen in Centraal-Azië en de Indo-Pacific, en de oorlog in Myanmar.”
Lezingen
Ruben is een veelgevraagd spreker en deskundige op het gebied van geopolitiek, gezondheidszorg, en de kunst van reizen, film en fotografie. Met een rijke ervaring in China en een achtergrond in de geneeskunde, combineert Ruben diepgaande kennis en analyse met boeiende verhalen en adembenemende beelden. Zijn lezingen openen een wereld van inzicht en avontuur, waarbij elke presentatie een unieke ontdekkingsreis is.