Athikhom Saengchai

Photographer
   
Field Notes
Location: Bangkok
Nationality: Thai
Biography: Athikhom Saengchai is a Thai documentary photographer and writer based in Bangkok, Thailand. His works focus on endangered culture and marginalized ethnic minorities. He is committed to promoting cultural diversity and a deeper understanding of... MORE
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Field Notes
Copyright Athikhom Saengchai 2024
Updated Apr 2023
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Summary
As Part 1 of a two-part series from my personal project on Kurdistan, “Field Notes” is a visual record of my journeys and tells stories of the lives and complex history of the Kurds based on keywords that will give a broad overview of Kurdistan.
I heard of the Kurds for the first time in 1991 when I saw on the TV news waves of Kurdish people walking in the mountains with their belongings. As a 10-year-old boy, I was moved by the scene, but I also had many questions: Who are the Kurds? Why did they have to flee? From what? I could not understand what was happening there. I found out later that it was news of the Kurdish exodus from Iraq.

Many years later, when I found my strong interest in photography and wanted to use it to help me explore subjects I am curious about, the questions about the Kurds from my childhood came back to my mind. So, in 2018, I decided to make my first trip to Kurdistan, or the “Land of the Kurds,” on my own. The visit to Kordestan Province in Iran sparked my curiosity about the Kurds and drew me back to learn more in the following years.

“Kurdistan: Field Notes” is the first part of a two-part series from this personal project. It is a visual record of my experience on numerous journeys to Kurdish-inhabited regions in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. Each image tells stories of the lives and complex history of the Kurds based on keywords that will give a broad overview of the Kurds, the world’s largest ethnic group without a country of their own.

For my reflection on the fate of the Kurds, read Part 2 “The Other Side of the Mountains."
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The Other Side of the Mountains

Athikhom Saengchai / Kurdistan (Iran, Turkey, Iraq)
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Field Notes by Athikhom Saengchai
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