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Contemporary Photography of Iraqi Kurdistan by Richard Wilding

Gulan’s Creative Director Richard Wilding has travelled extensively through Iraqi Kurdistan, photographing the culture, architecture and archaeology. A selection of his work is presented here, and can also be seen alongside his other work on his portfolio website:

www.richardwilding.com

Richard Wilding’s photography of the Erbil Citadel in 2014 was supported by an outreach grant from the British Institute for the Study of Iraq.

www.bisi.ac.uk

The Tomb of Prophet Nahum, Alqosh

A shrine in the town of Alqosh, 50 kilometres north of Mosul, is the most prominent surviving reminder of Kurdistan’s long Jewish history. The building reputedly houses the tomb of Prophet Nahum, a minor prophet in the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament.
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Mamilian IDP Camp, Aqrah

Mamilian IDP Camp near Aqrah, Dohuk Governorate, houses 12,000 displaced residents of Mosul and the Nineveh plains. The camp has separate sections for Yezidi, Sunni and Shia families, but the children are taught together in mixed classes.
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Father Nageeb’s ‘Hotel’

Throughout Erbil stand half-built luxury apartments, offices and hotels. Father Nageeb, a Dominican priest, has converted one of these buildings, standing by a half-completed ring road on the outskirts of Erbil, into a vertical camp housing Christian families.
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Diwan Hotel Camp, Erbil

The conflict with ISIS, combined with the resulting refugee crisis and reduced business activity, has put tremendous strain on the Kurdistan region of Iraq. In the shadow of a partially completed hotel in the new business quarter of Erbil, a small camp houses refugees.
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Erbil Citadel

Erbil citadel is dramatically situated on top of a mound, or ‘tell’, of accumulated archaeological layers, visually dominating the modern city of Erbil below. Believed to have been in existence for at least 6,000 years, it claims to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world.
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Ankawa

Ankawa houses many Christians displaced from elsewhere in Iraq, where sectarian tensions have reduced the Christian population from 1.5 million before the U.S. led invasion in 2003 to below 400,000 at the beginning of 2014.
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Yazidi shrine, Lalish

The Yazidis follow an ancient religion that blends pre-Islamic Mesopotamian and Assyrian traditions, Christianity and Islam. Since 2014, the Yazidis have been targeted by ISIS. Lalish, northeast of Mosul, is their religious centre and focal point of an annual pilgrimage.
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Newroz

Newroz is a celebration to welcome the first day of spring, marking the end of a cold, dark winter in the mountains of Kurdistan, as the spring brings warmth and new life, re-awakening the agricultural cycle of cultivating, planting and harvesting.
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Erbil

Between 2003 and 2014, Erbil experienced a rapid transformation as luxury hotels, shopping malls and property developments emulated the oil-fuelled growth of Dubai. The emergence in the region of ISIS has halted this progress for the time being.
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Halabja

The towns of Penjwen and Halabja lie to the east of Sulaymaniyah, near the border with Iran. In 1988, Halabja was attacked with chemical weapons as part of the Anfal campaign in which Saddam Hussein violently suppressed Kurdish revolt during the Iran-Iraq war.
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The Red Fort

The Red Fort in Sulaymaniyah served as the northern headquarters of the notorious Iraqi Intelligence Service. Its red façade has been preserved, marked with bullet holes and broken windows. The buildings contain a labyrinth of prison cells.
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The Road to Sulaymaniyah

The road from Erbil to Sulaymaniyah at Newroz (New Year’s day) is jammed with cars as families leave the city to spend their holiday picnicking in the countryside. Many groups pitch tents and sit at the side of the road to enjoy the spectacle.
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Sulaymaniyah

The modern city of Sulaymaniyah is located in the south of Iraqi Kurdistan, around 100 km east of Kirkuk. Sulaymaniyah has for many years been considered Iraqi Kurdistan’s cultural capital, home to many scholars, artists and writers.
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Zaytun Library

The Sami Abdul-Rahman Park in Erbil has been built on the former base of Saddam Hussein’s feared Fifth Corps Army, a place of imprisonment and torture. It is now a large park with lakes and gardens, and in its centre rises the Zaytun Library.
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The Hamilton Road

The Hamilton Road dates back to 1928, when the British commissioned New Zealand engineer Archibald Hamilton to build a road from Erbil up through the Zagros mountains to the Iranian border. This had previously been considered to be an impossible task.
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Diwan

A traditional Diwan, or guest house, of an established Erbil family. While they now live in a modern quarter of the city, each evening the older men return to this old house below the citadel to talk, eat and conduct business.
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