Dignity and Despair:
      Images of Iraq, November 2002

Background
In November, I was privileged to be part of the Iraq Peace Team, which is made up of Christian Peace Maker Teams and Voices in the Wilderness. We traveled to Iraq to show concern for and spend time with Iraqi citizens who are caught in the middle of a struggle between political powers. We observed the effects of the 1991 Gulf War, the bombings of 1999, and 12 years of crippling sanctions. We visited in people’s homes, hospitals, universities, life supporting infrastructures such as water and sewage treatment plants, mosques, churches, businesses, and non-governmental organizations.

These Images are a result of that trip. I have tried to communicate what I learned through the people, as well as my own perceptions of their paradoxical situation - their hope and dignity on the one hand, their despair and resignation on the other. It is my hope that through this medium I can bring more awareness to the tragedy that exists and continues to unfold, as well as the need to work harder towards nonviolent solutions.

Photography
I feel photography maintains a dialectical tension between receiving and recording the essence of what is out-there, with imposing order on the world. It’s portraying the way I see things and inviting you to look through my lens. Hopefully, it accurately reflects certain aspects of reality combined with vision. Black and white prints have an intangible quality that I like, which is hard to define. I feel that it adds dignity, and integrity to many subjects - especially those in this exhibit. It is ideally suited for creating interpretations, moods, and emotions with
both its starkness and rich tones. I find it easier to be creative when there are limits and restrictions that set boundaries I can fully explore. In this case, those limits are using a palette of light, rather than limitless colors. Details that are easily rendered in color have to rely on subtle shades of gray. Also, picture composition takes on a more prominent role when working in black and white.

Equipment
These images were captured digitally with an Olympus E-10 camera, transferred to computer for processing in Photoshop, and then printed using a quadtone process with carbon pigment inks on archival matte paper. While there is much debate about the quality of digital vs. traditional prints, some would say that digital offers a higher quality in small and medium sized prints, including a wider dynamic range of tones. You be the judge whether that is true or not.

Credits
Special thanks goes to: local Harrisonburg, VA donors who made my trip possible; to Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) who helped make this show possible; to CTP and Voices in the Wilderness who tirelessly put feet to their prayers by striving towards nonviolent solutions in today’s increasingly violent world; to Howard Zehr (Conflict Transformation Program at Eastern Mennonite University) who first turned me on to the social aspects of photography through his class Visual Methods of Social Research and who has served as mentor and encourager - his own photography is an inspiration; and finally, to the Iraqi people who were so gracious and hospitable in spite of their most difficult circumstances.

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