[ THE MIRROR PROJECT ]
"What is Iraq like today – after decades of war and ongoing IS occupation? What stories are being told by people in the self-governed region of Kurdistan about their past and present, and how do they view the future? How are Iraqis living in other parts of the country, where terror isn’t an everyday occurrence? These questions are what drew me to northern Iraq in December 2016. I travelled to find answers, and get a glimpse behind the Western world’s often one-sided perspective."
[ Kevin McElvaney ]
Interviews allowed the photographer Kevin McElvaney to get closer. He put his protagonists alone in a room, in front of a two-way mirror hiding the camera, where they answered a range of biographical questions. The final question completed the social experiment, McElvaney asked them to imagine their future whilst staring into the mirror in silence for an unspecified length of time. The viewer sees this person on the screen in a moment of self-reflection and looks into their eyes. What is happening to the interviewee during these few minutes? Does this experience move, or even change the viewer?
I was asked to draw those characters. Without knowing the protagonists, I looked through the video material and tried to capture the most striking expression on each face.
Scribbles
Colours
Interview 1 – Haidar Fadhil Abbas
Interview 2 – Rezheen
Interview 3 – Hanna Kamal Ibrahim
Interview 4 – Massara
Interview 5 – Mohammed Nawzad
Interview 6 – Pater Youssef Ibrahaim
Interview 7 – Faris Darwish
Interview 8 – Xatê Shingali
Inteview 9 – Munifa Kret
Inteview 10 – Abu Jaarfar
Interview 11 – Kevin McElvaney
Interview 12 – Maan Arkhan Hlallan Mohammed
