How do you photograph something that you are not allowed to see? photographer Eli Durst asked in an interview with The Huffington Post. This was his central question when traveling to the East African city of Asmara, camera in tow.

Specifically, Durst was referring to the human rights abuses that plague Eritreas capital city, home to around 560,000 people , many of whom are desperate to leave. According to a 2014 report from The New York Times , almost 4,000 Eritreans flee the totalitarian-ruled country each month.

Eritrea was colonized by the Ottomans, the Egyptians, the Italians and the British before finally winning independence from Ethiopia in 1991. There has not yet been a single national election since independence was gained. The president has remained Isaias Afewerki, a man one Asmara teacher accused of isolating [the] country so that nobody can see what happens here.

From the outside, Durst explained, the citys tyrannical order is invisible, though not imperceptible. Protestors and criminals are imprisoned without trial and subjected to conditions that can only be described as torturous. An ominous veil of enforced calm blankets the streets. A lot of people say its the safest city in Africa, Durst said, which in some senses is true because people are too afraid to commit crimes.

Durst, who recently graduated with an MFA in photography from Yale, became interested in Asmara while volunteering at Casa Marianella , an emergency homeless shelter in East Austin, Texas, which provides shelter and legal advice for refugees seeking political asylum. Helping out his mom Sarah Woelk, an immigration lawyer, Durst took identification portraits for the applicants, getting to know many of them during the process.