The people of Iraq
Hien Lam Duc
Agence VU
I have been working in Iraq since March 1991, during the Gulf War. I first went there with an NGO to help the Kurds who were fleeing repression by the Iraqi army following a failed uprising. But as the years passed, I was witness to the suffering of the Iraqi population caught between the devastating effects of the international embargo, introduced in 1990, and the terror imposed on them by Saddam Hussein’s regime.
The embargo has proven to be totally ineffective. Indeed the regime has turned it to its own advantage, using it as a pretext to increase political repression, to prevent any form of freedom of expression, and to enlist the population. In short, the embargo has legitimized the dictatorship. Far from having weakened Saddam Hussein, the sanctions have made him stronger and richer, as shown by the latest reports on black-market oil trading, run by the Iraqi dictator’s entourage.
Preview
For 10 years I have investigated and traveled throughout the country with the same fascination and determination. Ten years of having to use my wits to avoid the censors, to make contact with former political prisoners and to get a few Iraqis to confide to me their hatred for Saddam Hussein. The photographs of hospitals, schools and markets show the shortages and weariness that afflict the population. And yet they did not suffice to denounce the tragic conditions of every day life. What is worse, they were even interpreted as propaganda for the totalitarian regime. In reaction to this misinterpretation, I had to find a new way in which to denounce the situation. The present use of face portraits is a means of shooting photographs that are entirely free of propaganda and that pay homage to the victims.
I intend to continue to bear witness until the end of the embargo and the fall of the dictatorship in Iraq. Then I will investigate into the lives of refugees persecuted by the regime and political prisoners. To my knowledge I am the only photographer who has been documenting Iraq for a full decade.
