Iraqi-Kurdish photographer Jamal Penjweny’s project ‘Saddam is Here’ takes an uncanny look at the relationship between Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi people.
“Generous” yet “cruel”, a “good father” and a “criminal”, Saddam Hussein still elicits complex feelings among the population, years after his death.
In Penjweny’s words, “his shadow is still following Iraqi society everywhere”.
Penjweny says that “Iraqi society cannot forget him even after his death because some of us still love him and the rest are still afraid of him”. While in Baghdad, he felt that Saddam still lives through the way the people acted and interacted.
This inspired him to start the project ‘Saddam is Here’, where he photographed people covering their faces with a photo of Saddam Hussein’s face.
Naturally not everyone was keen to participate in his project, but Penjweny believes that art plays an important part in confronting the past and overcoming it.
[via The Guardian]