Susan Meiselas

Photographer

www.susanmeiselas.com

Kurdistan

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Location: New York City, New York

Nationality: American

Biography: Susan Meiselas, born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1948, received her BA from Sarah Lawrence College and her MA in visual education from Harvard University. Her first major photographic essay focused on the lives of women doing striptease at New... MORE

Cover of TIME Magazine, April 15, 1991

Map presented by the Kurdish Le...co Conference on March 30, 1945

Map presented by the Kurdish League Khoybun to the San Francisco Conference on March 30, 1945

On the road into Northern Iraq across the border with Iran, 1991

At Sardaw, a former Iraqi milit...eside them. Northern Iraq, 1991

At Sardaw, a former Iraqi military headquarters on the outskirts of Sulaimaniya, trench graves are dug up to reveal the remains of executed Iranian prisoners of war. A total of 18 Iranian soldiers were found executed in violation of the Geneva Conventions. An additional 13 civilians were found buried beside them. Northern Iraq, 1991

Exhumation of an old grave in t...ravedigger. Northern Iraq, 1991

Exhumation of an old grave in the cemetery of Arbil where an executed civilian was buried by local gravedigger. Northern Iraq, 1991

Trench graves are exhumed at th... beside them. Sulaimaniya, 1991

Trench graves are exhumed at the former Iraqi military headquarters of Sardaw on the outskirts of Sulaimaniya. A total of 18 Iranian soldiers were found exectued in violation of the Geneva Conventions. An additional 13 civilians were buried beside them. Sulaimaniya, 1991

Map of Koreme gravesite, Jim Br...n forensic anthropologist. 1992

Map of Koreme gravesite, Jim Briscoe, American forensic anthropologist. 1992

I was stunned by what I saw. I had never witnessed such a complete and systematic destruction of village life, even in ten years of covering the conflicts in Central America.

Although few Western observers had been inside northern Iraq for nearly a decade, reports periodically leaked out through the Kurdish network about Saddam Hussein's 1988 "Anfal" campaign, a brutal attempt at annihilation. Nearly 100,000 Kurds were said to have "disappeared." After reports that mass graves had been uncovered inside the Kurdish enclave, the group Human Rights Watch sent a mission into the territory to investigate. It was an opportune moment, since no one knew just how long it would take Saddam to regain military strength and reassert control over the region

-S.M. from "Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History"

Iraq, 1992

Map of Koreme gravesite, Jim Briscoe, American forensic anthropologist. 1992

Widow at mass grave found in Koreme. Northern Iraq, June 1992

TEARSHEET. The New York Times M...me mass gravesite. Norther Iraq

TEARSHEET. The New York Times Magazine. January 3, 1993. Sister with her exhumed brother at Koreme mass gravesite. Norther Iraq

New cemetery of Gohtapa where v... grave were reburied. June 1992

New cemetery of Gohtapa where villagers from mass grave were reburied. June 1992

Dr. Clyde Snow, internationally...d. Northern Iraq, December 1991

Dr. Clyde Snow, internationally known forensic anthropologist, holds the blindfolded skull of an executed male teenager estimated to be between 15-18 years old. The skull was found with two bullet holes in his head. Northern Iraq, December 1991

Dr. Clyde Snow overlooks the ex...ulaimaniya. Northern Iraq, 1991

Dr. Clyde Snow overlooks the exhumation of graves at Sardow military base in Sulaimaniya. Northern Iraq, 1991

Children's graves. Iraq, 1992

Kurdish men look closely at clo...elow. Arbil cemetery, June 1992

Kurdish men look closely at clothes left on top of graves, marking unidentified bones exhumed below. Arbil cemetery, June 1992

Kurdish men look closely at clothes left on top of graves marking unidentified bones exhumed below. Arbil cemetery, June 1992

Arbil Cemetery. Iraq, 1991

Arbil cemetery. Iraq, 1991

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Thumbnail of Cover of TIME Magazine, April 15, 1991

Thumbnail of Map presented by the Kurdish Lea_sco Conference on March 30, 1945

Thumbnail of On the road into Northern Iraq across the border with Iran, 1991

Thumbnail of At Sardaw, a former Iraqi milita_beside them. Northern Iraq, 1991

Thumbnail of Exhumation of an old grave in th_gravedigger. Northern Iraq, 1991

Thumbnail of Trench graves are exhumed at the_d beside them. Sulaimaniya, 1991

Thumbnail of Map of Koreme gravesite, Jim Bri_an forensic anthropologist. 1992

Thumbnail of Widow at mass grave found in Koreme. Northern Iraq, June 1992

Thumbnail of TEARSHEET. The New York Times Ma_eme mass gravesite. Norther Iraq

Thumbnail of New cemetery of Gohtapa where vi_s grave were reburied. June 1992

Thumbnail of Dr. Clyde Snow, internationally _ad. Northern Iraq, December 1991

Thumbnail of Dr. Clyde Snow overlooks the exh_Sulaimaniya. Northern Iraq, 1991

Thumbnail of Children's graves. Iraq, 1992

Thumbnail of Kurdish men look closely at clot_below. Arbil cemetery, June 1992

Private Story

Kurdistan

Copyright Susan Meiselas 2024

Updated Sep 2021

Topics Photography

Kurdistan

When the Gulf War began, I, like most Americans, knew little about the Kurds. My first visit to the region was brief. Pleased to have the Western press witness the Kurds' pressing need for humanitarian aid, Iran granted me a five-day visa and access to the Kurdish refugee camps. It was barely enough time to leave Paris, cross the Iranian border and get to the "liberated" zone within Northern Iraq. While the world's attention was concentrated on the flight of the Kurds, I was drawn to the places from which they'd came. I drove in along the same road upon which many Kurds were still fleeing.

-S.M. from "Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History"

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Susan Meiselas

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