R4REFUGE: A GLANCE INTO THE LIVES OF DISPLACED CHILDREN
inside erbil's local market
2016
The Kurdish elderly, a generation of pain
2016
I'm from Halabja. I had moved to Sulemani for a bit to work and try and make some more money. I remember when I learnt about the Halabja Chemical Bombings [committed by Saddam Hussin in 1988 killing over 5000 people). All my family was there. I don't know if I should consider myself lucky that I wasn't there that day. Sometimes I wonder if it was better for me to be there that day and leave with my loved ones, but then I shake it off. I'm happy most days. I come to the park and talk with my friends about the past.
Let me be honest with you. You guys have it much better, don't take it for granted. When I think of my childhood, it is nothing like the ones my grandchildren have. When I became a teenager, things were only going worse. The older I got, the more difficult it became. And there were wars and displacement throughout. I've seen so much of that that the feeling of being at peace in my heart seems so distant. There's a sense of worry in me all the time. I can't seem to get rid of it even in this coffeeshop, where I probably feel most comfortable. Oh I can't even drink this tea. This is my friend's; I have diabetes.
Music has been my savior my whole life. Things were never jolly and it was never easy to get by. It was only those moments I could play where I could briefly escape everything. I was 13 when my uncle carved me my first flute. I'm quite good at it too by now. I've been asked to teach it a few times, but I refuse. I just enjoy sitting here and playing it while the people pass by, and sell a few that I make once in a while.
I never had the chance to go to school or pick up a profitable skill. But I've been selling birds for quite a while now and I'm quite good at it. I've never owned one though. I don't like having them in a cage, but I need the money. I sell them and let the moral of the people that buy them decide their fate.
I grew up in a village most of my life. Living in the city [Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan in Northern Iraq] has been tough. It's very different. The people live different lives. My children's childhood was very different from mine. They prioritize themselves and what they want to do. I tried to keep them the same, but after a while, I realized that maybe I should be the one changing my ways a little.
I'm a Kurd who lived in the Syrian part of Kurdistan. With the war, I lost everything. We had two cars. I would take one and use it to transport some fruits and vegetables we would grow. My son would take the other and use it as a taxi between the adjacent towns. I had to leave everything behind and leave. I'm not really sure if my house is still there or not. I started selling beads and hand-made jewelry once I came to Erbil. I had a few at first, and now I have a much larger collection I'm selling. Things are going better. It's all about patience. Once you have that, nothing can really knock you off your feet.
I don't really know what to tell you about. When we were here, things were terrible with Saddam. You know all the facts and numbers. Then, most of us had to leave to the Iranian part of Kurdistan to escape Saddam in 1991. That was terrible too. But we got independence later that year and returned. Things didn't necessarily just become perfect magically, but I have a roof I can call my home, and I really do feel at home now.
SAn francisco and nyc
A small collection of some shots I came across in San Francisco and NYC
A little
about Alan..
Alan is a photographer born in Erbil, Kurdistan, an autonomous region in Northern Iraq.
He moved to California at the age of 17 to pursue his undergraduate education at Stanford University, studying Electrical Engineering and minoring in Political Science.
Inherited from his parents who are writers and journalists, Alan always had an interest in the field, especially documenting people and their stories, shedding light on their issues and helping them share that with others on a global scale. After his second year of college, Alan decided to shift gears and began focusing more on photography and using it in the scope of both design and philanthropy projects he took part in. In the summer of 2016, he started R4Refuge, a project documenting and sharing stories of refugee children inflicted by ISIS, and plans to continue the project and use the content for philanthropic purposes. Alan's work has been published in Pulse Magazine and the Kurdish Project, and has had his photo projects exhibited by Stanford UNICEF as well as other arts and cultural events at Stanford.
Alan shoots most of his photos using his Canon Rebel T5. He has also shot and developed 35 mm and medium format film.
Alan is committed to using his photography to work on issues related to environmental conservation, human rights, and documenting diminishing cultures and people.
SAY HELLO.
If you have any inquiries or want to work together, or just want to say hello, drop me a line below!
