People Who

Occupy Places
In conjunction with the 18tb Singapore International Film Festival (SIFF) in April 2005, Iraqi photographer
and filmmaker Ziad Tut·key Al-Ani held an exhibition at the Goethe Institut entitled Emigration to tbe
Ruins. The exhibition featured 40 images, from 2004, of homeless Iraqis living in abandoned government
buildings after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Based in Baghdad, ttying to sutvive in a countty besieged by endless injustice, Ziad Turkey's life has
followed a radically different trajectoty from the Iraqi writers and artists who left the countty during Saddam
Hussein's rule.
In an introduction to his exhibition, Ziad Turkey Al-Ani wrote: "Inside these ruins that were once
'respected' buildings that brought fear, numbness, caution, and disgust at some times, and hypocrisy at other
times, there were prison cells, interrogation rooms, meetings rooms, and other rooms for telling jokes. And

Ziad Turkey At-Ani, AI..Jumhoorya Newspaper, Iraq, 2004. All photographs: Courtesy of the Artist.

48 ASIAN ART NEWS JULY/AUGUST 2005

Ziad Turkey AI-Ani, War Birds, Iraq, 2004.

these rooms always had photos of the one, the only, the hard-headed, the great. Today, these photos are not
hung anymore and that name is not as it was. Inside those buildings, I found those who use documents and
papers as beds, and those who built their little kitchens in small prison cells ... I found children playing in a
bureau of the Baath Party, and a kid who flatters his girl in the director's room. To those who deserve
shelters; to the eyes of their children, I grant these photos."
As a student of theater arts in the Fine Arts Institute of Baghdad, from 1980 to 1986, Ziad Turkey Al-
Ani took to photography by taking pictures of theatrical spaces. His "big experience" came in 1986 when,
during his militaty service, he was sent to the front as a photographer to document the war between Iraq and
Iran. Since turning professional at the end of the war in 1988, Ziad Turkey Al-Ani has exhibited frequently in
the Middle East, but Emigration to the Ruins was his first exhibition in Southeast Asia.
From 1990 to 1994, Ziad Turkey Al-Ani pursued his B.A. in cinematic arts at the Fine Arts Academy in
Baghdad. Since then, the 41-year-old has pursued various projects in cinema and theater. In 2003, when 32-
year-old director Oday Rasheed decided to make the first uncensored feature film shot in post-Saddam
Hussein's Iraq, Ziad Turkey AI-Ani was the director of photography. Making its Asian premiere at the SIFF,
Underexposure offers an important view of the faceless victims caught up between the politics of a dictator
buoyed by oil money and the corporate interests of the United States of America. The 65-minute film was
voted Best Film at the Silver Screen Awards-its first major international honor.
Zhuang Wubin recently spoke with Ziad Turkey Al-Ani, who was guest at the 18th Singapore Inter-
national Film Festival about his work and the state of photography in post-Saddam Iraq.

JULY/AUGUST 2005 ASIAN ART NEWS 49

 Zhuang Wubin: You m ·e a pbo tog ra-
pi:Jer aud a cinem atograpbet·. How dif-
f er ent are tbese two roles?
Ziad Turk ey Al-Ani: When I was learn-
ing photography, I was fascinated by light
as a form of subject. In the 1980s, I shot
only black-and-wh ite. I started doing color
in the 1990s. Around the same time, I built
a darkroom to do photographic experi-
ments. My first solo exhibition in Baghdad
took place in 1993. l also started to make
films. Even as a cinematographer, I feel
like a photographer because I al ways ap-
ply what l have learnt in photography to
filmmaking. The p rinci p les are the sa me.
The only difference is the equipment. With
Underexposure. we shot o n stock that was
16 yea rs past its expiry elate. My knowl-
edge of the darkroom helped solve many
problems until the film was developed in
Beirut [with Kodak's help.]
As a filmmaker, you make one or
rwo films every two yea rs. ln the mean-
time, how do your hone you r aesthetic
sense? I-Jow do you survive financiall y?
How do you practice? Photography is a
very good way. As a photographer , eveiy-
thing in life-even light-is my subject. l
Ziad Turkey AI-Ani, A Visit to the Neighbor's, Iraq, 2004.
50 ASIAN ART NEWS
see light as a human being or an object.
This is normally the case in my photos.
Wb at d o y ou f eel w b e n you are ta king
picture s?
When I rake pictures, I feel as though I'm
trying to get close to myself, as though
I'm in some religious p lace. lt is a good
way to look sensitively at our surround-
ings. It is a ve1y inrernal feeling.
H ow did you e mbark 0 11 tbe project
tbttl le d to your exbibitio n Emigration
to the Ruins at ti:Je Goetbe lns tit u t?
After Undere.'\posu re, I decided to do a
photo project on the people who were
livi ng in the ruins of government build-
ings. This is a peculiar situation. I n I raq,
we call them ··people who occupy places.··
During the war, they left their destroyed
ho mes to live in these massive buildings.
Bu t they cannot stay there forever. When
the time comes to kick them out, there
are bound to be clashes. However, the
cond itions in these places are very bad.
We have to pay attention to this problem.
From May to .July 2004, !lived w ith them ,
l istened to their problems and p hoto-
graphed their stories. In a way, they are
lucky to have these b uild in gs. But i f
Saddam had originally used the money
spent on these government structures to
build houses for the Iraqis, we would not
have homeless people. Sadly, we see the
same story of wars-the same hiSLOiy of
mankind-repeating itse lf.
WIJat was going t!J1·ougb your m ind
when you were sb ooting Emigr ation
to the Ruins?
There was a sense of unfamiliarity with
the material l was shooting, as though l
was experiencing it for the first time when
I rook out my camera. ometimes, it hurt.
The suffering hurt me. B ut sometimes, l
was pleased-pleased w ith the power of
giving back to the world, p leased with the
harmony between light and the subjects.
Yo u r im ages are sbot i u digital fm·-
m a l.
Yes, but the feel of the printouts is not
digital. The way I print is like doing digi-
tal lithography. When you do offset print-
JULY/AUGUST 2005
Ziad Turkey AI-Ani, Composition, Iraq, 2004.
ing w ith commercial primers, they w ill cast
the images onro film. With my digital files,
I ··cast" th em o nro films in rhe traditional
darkroom as though I am making contact
prints. Therefore, L can still enjo y the psy-
cho logy o f developing my prints in the
wet darkroom. When analog photographers
see th at the difference in printo ut qualiry
between d igital and traditional formats is
Ziad Turkey AI-Ani, A L e s s o n in Life, Iraq, 2004.
JULY/ AUGUST 2005
not that big, they may be convinced to pur-
sue digital technology in this manner.
What do y ou f eel about ex hibiting in
Singapore, a country that has sup-
ported A m e rica 's war on terror?
We ha ve to differentiate betw een an act
o f th e government and an act o f th e
Zlad Turkey AI-Ani, Kitche n, Iraq , 2004.
people. Peop le are no t always respo nsible
fo r t.he aCLio ns o f the governmenr. As m y
exhib itio n is a cu ltural activ ity, I prefer to
respo nd to the people o f Singapo re.
After all, this is a human project and
rhere is no issue to show it to people with
different perspectives. In fact, many people
in I raq are suppo rtive of the war because
they w anted Saddam removed, even at such
ASIAN ART NEWS 51
 a heavy price. But now, we have a crisis at
hand. Obviously, America is inte rested in
Iraq. We have to deal with it.
How do you see the current s ituation
in Iraq?
In 2003, when we were maki ng Underex-
p osure, it was not d ifficult to shoot the
film. In 2004, whe n I was shooting Emi-
gration to tbe Ruins, the situation was more
d angero us.
I thin k the worst-case scenario that
we w ill see is a fu ll-fled ged civil war in
Iraq . Differe nt cities with di ffe rent po liti-
cal agendas and religio us backgrou nds are
fighting one ano ther. Eve1yone is partic i-
pating in terro rism. The Ame rican way of
resolving the issue is to bo mb these a r-
eas. But the problem will not go away with
violence. The re is no political solution. No-
body in Iraq be lieves that the country is
returning to normalcy. Howeve r, we be -
lieve Ame rica can solve the problem b ut
it may no t be in its inte rests to d o so.
Can you describe the state ofphotog-
raphy in Iraq?
Ziad Turkey AI-Ani, Departing Life, Iraq, 2004.
-,,
52 ASIAN ART NEWS
Like all countries, there is no market fo r still recovering from years o f wa r and eco -
pho tography, no culture of b uying pho- nomic sa nctions.
tos . News pape rs w ill lift p ictu res fro m
anywhere without payment. There is no The embat-go was a. partic u/a1·ly de-
price fo r pho tojo u rnalism and no concept pressing periodfor tbe Iraqis. Did tbe
o f copyright. mood surface in photography?
Unde r Sacldam, the best photos
we re the o nes that served nationalistic aims During the sanction yea rs, we didn't have
or e ncouraged people to fight in the wa rs. money to buy anything. We always wished
Access was contro lled by the mil ita ry. to take some more pictures with o ur ca m-
The re \Ve re independe nt Iraq i photogra- era . We wis hed to have eno ugh money to
phe rs but they could only sho w the ir pic- buy negatives and make photo prints. We
tu re s to friends priva tely. In 1985, I wa s even dreamt o f reaching photographic fes-
arreste d for two cl ays fo r pho tograp h ing tivals arou nd the world.
a se ns itive loca tio n that I d id n 't even It was n ot o nl y Sadcl a m who
kno w [was sensitive.] Unde r the regime's worked to humble us. The whole wo rld
definition, a person with a came ra was a joined in. Ou r children were dying in hos-
pro fessio nal photogra p he r o r a s p y- pitals because o f the lack of drugs. No
nothing in between. I coul dn't say I was a one even noticed. In the na me of interna-
hobbyist. tional sanctions, we were dying. He nce,
During the em bargo, it was diffi- photography died, to o, except for press
cult to find che micals o r good photo pa- p hotography that served the p olitica l situ-
per. With the digital revolutio n, the s itua- ation. Mea nwh ile, the photographic artist
tion has improved in recent years. Now, was too busy trying to stay alive.
most Iraq i jo u rnalists are dig ital users. Fo r
p hotographe rs who document daily life, Do you think there is greater urge1rcy
we have an even mix between digital and for Iraqi photographers after theft.tll
a na log users. Understandably, d ig ital print- of Saddam to p1·ese1zt the plight of
ing in Iraq is sti ll vety expensive . We are Iraq to the world?
JULY/ AUGUST 2005
Ziad Turkey AI-Ani, W a iting, Iraq, 2004.
Yes, bur it is nor only for the sake o f docu-
mentation that we sense the urgency. By
presenting their perspectives on the situa-
tion in Iraq, artists and photographers are
sea rching for the principles that will guide
their current projects.
I raqi photographers always had a
role ro play even under Saddam. Because
of their interactions with life, they had their
viewpoims and positio ns on issues. The
Saddam regime always wa nted ro force art
ro serve its "revolution·· bur it did nm reach
the eyes and ears or the artists who felt
responsible for documenti ng reality.
Despite tbe kiduappi11gs, tiJere is au
influx offoreign pbotograpiJ ers into
Iraq because oftbe wat·. Do you have
auy comments on tbeir photograpiJ ic
coverage of tbe war?
Under Saddam , foreign photographe rs
could n't shoot alone. They h <~d ro be es-
corted by the secret police. They w ould
come and go, and we would ha ve no
chance to interact with them. Of course,
we were jea lo us o f their access. After the
war, the American troops rook over, in
place of rhe secret pol ice. T hey become
JULY/AUGUST 2005
the ones who give clearance and access.
Foreign j ou rnalists are allowed to follow
the America n troops wh ile local photog-
raphers can only document the daily life
o f post-Saddam Iraq. Understandab ly ev-
eryth ing in I raq is exotic to the foreign
"Iraqi photogmph e-rs always
had a role to p lay even unde1·
Saddam. Because of their inter-
actions with life, they had thei'r
viewpoints and positions on is-
sues. The Saddam ·r egime al-
ways wanted to force art to
serve its 'revolution ' but it did
not reach the eyes and ears of
the artists who felt responsible
f01" documenti ng reality."
photographers because of the luxury of
distance.
The siruation has become mo re
dangerous since 2004. Photographers are
not allowed to roa m the streets freely. T hey
stay in hotels for mosr of the rime and can
only go out from time to time. Thus, they
cannot develop any form of relationship
with thei r subjects. And yet, they are re-
quired to satisfy their clients back home
within a time frame, \vhich means they
cannot go in-depth.
Do you tbink it bas a lmost become a
clicbe to see i11ternatio11 alma.iustream .
medilt put up pictures of suffering
lra.qis 011ly after tbe wa.r WliS declared
over by America?
Photograp hers are like musicians. There
are those w ho follow the standards and
there are some who play to w hat the au-
diences want. So they don't really have a
cenain viewpoint. For Emigration to the
Ruins, I have pictured miserable children
suffer ing in post-war Iraq. But my p icrures
ca nnot be considered cl iche or stereotypi-
cal. Some photographers aim to show dis-
gust to Sadclam or rhe American soldiers.
T h is is not my subject. My focus is on
humans. 6
Zhua11g \Wubin is a photographer cmd arts
writer. He is based in Singapore and writes
regular(y for Asian An ews as well as
other publications.
ASIAN ART NEWS 53