Between Two Rivers

“Between Two Rivers” re-empowers the image of Iraqi women, who were subjugated to the ‘selling of the war’. The notion that women in Iraq, who once enjoyed the greatest freedoms of the Arab world, would be liberated by war under the guise of democracy is countered. Tribal tattoos, scarification and historical Iraqi identity markers are subverted to speak about the once proud cradle of civilization; the photographs mirror the language of violence by physically altering the artist's own body through theater cosmetics. The protagonist's gaze reveals her resistance, paradoxically performing the dysfunctional Iraqi reality within the image of resolve.

Between Two Rivers, photographs
Medium: Digital Archival Prints, editions of 5+1AP
Size: black & white images 20 in x 30 in; color images 42 in x 28 in
Year: 2008-2009 and 2016