ARBAT ASHTI REFUGEE CAMP – IRAQ

2017. Journey through the tents of UNHCR Arbat Refugee Camp, near the city of Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq.

I met people escaped from the fury of ISIS terrorists, coming from different battered parts of Iraq and Syria. Most of these people have lost everything, houses, families… but they don’t lose heart and try to give their lives a semblance of normality, creating a series of activities. Inside the camp in fact there are barbers, markets, games rooms and much else. I listened to their stories and collected the pictures in this reportage.

The purpose of this project (and others that I am working on) is to show the most human side of what is happening nowdays in Iraq. For what I’ve been able to do and achieve in this difficult land, the meaning of every click is always a clear message against war, far away from political and mediatic exploitation.

Arbat Refugee Camp, set up in 2015 by the government with the help of various agencies and associations (including UNHCR, UNICEF and Emergency), nowdays hosts more than 6000 people.