OPEN SHUTTERS IRAQ Eugenie Dolberg 2010 www.trolleybooks.com Index on Censorship 2009 : : www.fruitmachinedesign.com : : 1998 ISBN 978-1-904563-99-0 . www.trolleybooks.com 2010 Grafiche Antiga Index on Censorship UNDP, Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y de Cooperacion and Agencia Española de Cooperacion Internacional Prince Claus Fund
[email protected] ( :) www.oxymoronfilms.com This book is a collection of individual photographs and photographic essays made by women from Baghdad, Basra, Falluja, Kirkuk and Mosul in 2006/7. These women were not photographers or writers, but were brought together by their need to tell their stories. INTRODUCTION In the aftermath of 2003, Iraq was left without an effective government or civilian infrastructure and its people became increasingly vulnerable to the arbitrary violence of those exploiting the chaos. By 2006 so many journalists had been targeted and killed or kidnapped that it had become almost impossible to work and the sources of news from Iraq were largely military and governmental. The story of what was happening to ordinary people in Iraq was not being heard. At that time I was living in bordering Syria. I had been working for many years internationally as a photographer and had become frustrated with the increasingly corporate nature of the media. It demanded stories, which had little to do with the concerns that motivated me, or even the type of photography that moved me. On the other hand, I felt deeply privileged to be in contact with so many inspirational people on a daily basis. The more time I spent away from Europe and USA, the more I realised how much interference, often in the guise of aid, there was in the affairs of other countries, leaving people with neither a sense of ownership of their own history or a role to play in determining the direction of their country’s future.