← Portfolio / Iraq
In a displacement camp in Iraq, families live in tents and tarpaulin shelters. Children, mothers, elders: everyday life in a camp.
This photo story in a displacement camp in Iraq was made in November 2019 at the Bardarash camp, in Dohuk governorate. A month after the Turkish offensive in north-eastern Syria, it hosts Syrian families in exile.
A few kilometres from Bardarash, tents of the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) cover the ground. In 2013, this camp hosted Iraqis fleeing the Islamic State. In 2019, almost 12,000 Syrians are crammed into it. To leave the camp, one needs asylum papers and a close relative in Iraq. The others wait, or go back to Syria.
Daily life organises itself nonetheless. People with family in Iraq, or who brought some money, open shops. There is a grocery at every crossroads, then hairdressers and barbers. So the camp slowly turns into a town.
Yet food is lacking. Apart from the basket handed out on arrival by the World Food Programme, some refugees say they have received nothing for almost three weeks. Some parents admit they send their children to beg from neighbours.
The stories collected are harsh. Families tell of fleeing on foot, by motorbike or by car when the attacks began on 9 October. The price smugglers ask has risen from 200 to 400 or even 500 dollars per person. The photos show an overview of the camp, mothers and children by a stove, a barber at work, children playing between the tents and the portrait of an elderly woman with a tattooed face.
This story is part of Alexander Bee’s documentary photography portfolio. You can also discover Sinjar: the Yazidis after the war or Faces of Kurdistan. To buy a print or use a photo, contact me. To learn more: Dohuk Governorate on Wikipedia.
Photos © Alexander Bee – all rights reserved. Prints and licensing: contact me.
