LIGHT IN DARKNESS LO R R A I N E M A L L I N D E R
Finding Light in the Darkness:
Ayman al-Amiri explores his war-torn home Words by Lorraine Mallinder & Images by Ayman al-Amiri
International multimedia journalist Lorraine Mallinder’s boots-on-ground journalism covers everything from political uprisings to social justice campaigns in some of the world’s most hostile environments, to give a voice to people who need it most. Lorraine’s guest feature in ‘the Photographer’ tackles the harrowing tale of a young photographer’s efforts to make sense of his obliterated homeland of Iraq and reinvigorate his national identity through his camera.
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wenty years ago, almost to the day, the US invaded Iraq in what is now viewed as one of the biggest foreign policy blunders of modern times. Hundreds of thousands died as a result of the invasion, the ensuing sectarian civil war, the emergence of Islamic State and the general collapse of infrastructure in the country. For Ayman al-Amiri, 27, the invasion would forever change the way he saw the world around him. He recalls Saddam Hussein burning crude oil around Baghdad to obscure bombing targets. The skies, the streets, the buildings, people’s faces were black with the smoke. Mourners would wear black for 40 days after their loved ones died. And all around him, the mood was black. “There was no colour at all. Everything was black, black, black,” he says. The son of a photographer, Amiri helped his father to document everyday life after the invasion – “in all sorts of situations, with water shortages, power cuts, a lack of food, the people crazy and scared.” By the time he was 20, he’d saved up enough money from freelance jobs to buy his first camera, a Leica M3 with a 50mm lens from the 50s. A luxury item in Iraq, it had been found in the house of a wealthy businessman who had worked in the oil industry. It had cost him six months’ salary, but it was worth every cent. Light and comfortable, it’s a fantastic camera to work with, he says. “In Iraq, you have to move fast because you don’t know what will happen with security and attacks.” A 40 the PHOTOGRAPHER / 2023 / Issue One
Ayman al-Amiri, 27, photographer with AFP in Baghdad
few years back, he lost a borrowed Minolta XD11 in the Battle of Mosul, following the Iraqi army as they routed out Islamic State, which was attacking them with rocketpropelled grenades. “There were so many attacks,” he says. “I was running very fast, and I lost it forever.”
