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Public Art Project
September, 2005
Melville Gallery, South Street Sea Port Museum, NYC
South Station, Boston
St. John the Divine Church, NYC
These photographs were taken in various cities of Iraq in November and December 2003 a few months after the official end of the conflict. I traveled to Iraq to co-produce an episode of MTV’s True Life series about life in Iraq from the perspective of American soldiers and young Iraqis. While there, I took time off to wander the streets of Iraq with my photo camera. My fluency in Arabic and familiarity with the culture allowed me to meet many people who actively or discreetly asked to be photographed. In an effort to bring alternative images of Iraq to the American public, the photos depict a wide range of scenarios, from mothers holding their children to men relaxing in a mosque, from fish sellers in an open market to a carpenter in his small shop. The photos create an otherwise absent human and everyday encounter between the Iraqi and the American people.
Despite having been denied access at several locations in Lower Manhattan, including the campus of a major college, my photographs were installed in New York from September 8th-22nd thanks to the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s ‘Art and Recovery’ program in a joint effort with the Middle Eastern organization Alwan for the Arts as part of LMCC’s “What Comes After: Cities, Art and Recovery” summit in commemoration of the fourth anniversary of September 11th. The opening reception for the summit was onThursday, September 8, 2005, 6-8pm at the Melville Gallery, South Street Sea Port Museum.