Photographed Kurdish history showcased in Berlin

BERLIN, Germany - Susan Meiselas is an American documentary photographer, known for famous artwork including a piece titled American Carnival, and strippers in war-torn Nicaragua during the Nicaraguan Revolution.

Meiselas, 73, is holding an exhibition under the name “Mediations” in Berlin, showcasing photos of Kurds in their traditional Kurdish clothes while holding guns illustrating them as survivors.

In 1991, she arrived in the Kurdistan Region to document the Anfal genocide. The Anfal campaign, named after the eighth surah in the Quran, was the codename for former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s genocide, which killed around 182,000 Kurds.

“Photos are fragments of history,” she told Rudaw’s Zinar Shino on Friday. “They may not tell the full story, but they are a part of the story.”

The exhibition runs from April 30 to September 9 at the C/O Berlin gallery.