In the following years he worked in many conflict areas in Africa, such as Angola, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Liberia and the DR of Congo. From 1990 to 1994 he covered the transition in South Africa from apartheid to democracy.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Kadir covered social issues in different corners of the former empire. In 1997 he embarked on a big project to travel along the seven rivers of the world, from source to mouth, covering daily life along these lifelines. The project resulted in the book ‘Rivers’ and ‘Aderen’ (Mets & Schilt).
Kadir has received numerous prizes and awards in photojournalism. In 2000 and 2002 Kadir was a jury member of the World Press Photo contest and is currently on the supervisory board of the World Press Photo foundation.
In 2004 he went back to Angola, Sierra Leone and the DR of Congo to portray the diamond industry, following the diamonds from the mines to the consumer markets in the western world. The resulting exhibitions were shown in Europe and the USA, and also in the mining areas of Congo, Angola and Sierra Leone. The photo book ‘Diamond Matters, the diamond industry’ was published by Mets & Schilt (Holland), Dewi Lewis (UK) and Umbrage editions (USA) and awarded the prestigious Dutch Dick Scherpenzeel Prize for best reporting on the developing world. The project was also recognized with a World Press Photo Award.
In that same year, Kadir initiated a photo project together with Stanley Greene and six other photographers on the issue of violence against women around the world.
Following hurricane Katrina he made several trips to the USA to document the aftermath of the storm. In the summer of 2010, to mark the fifth commemoration of Hurricane Katrina, Kadir exhibited images of Katrina’s devastation and the aftermath in a truck-exhibition that drove from Houston to New Orleans, a project in collaboration with Stanley Greene.
From 2011 to 2012, Kadir created Via PanAm; a visual investigation on migration in the Americas. He spent 12 months travelling along the Pan American Highway from Terra del Fuego in Patagonia to Deadhorse in Northern Alaska. Originally made as an interactive application for the iPad, Via PanAm was also made into a traveling interactive multimedia based exhibition, installation and a book.
With the project ‘Where will we go’, Kadir looked at the global consequences of rising sea levels caused by climate change. The project is designed to highlight both the immense complexities associated with in-island and inter-island/country movement, and the human rights implications involved in such displacements.
Kadir is a frequent lecturer and photography teacher and is based in Amsterdam.
