Photojournalist Souvid Datta spent three weeks in Northern Iraq to capture the violent and heroic battle of the Peshmerga. These Kurdish armed combatants are currently fighting against the forces of the Islamic State (ISIS) in order to recover territory that has been taken from them.
Anah, age eight, is the only survivor of five siblings.
Datta studied law and has received first aid training required to work in hostile environments, as well as face emergency situations that can arise in Iraq. He has followed and delved into the conflict in the Middle East in order to comprehend its origins. He assured Feature Shoot that he has always been more interested in the consequences of war than in the “spectacle” of it.
His images seek to draw international attention and challenge the media’s indifference to the Mosul conflict. Datta explains that the fronts are complex and unpredictable, “Hours of waiting can be suddenly interrupted by a burst of fire or an ISIS car-bomb heading your way.”
Datta spent three weeks in Northern Iraq meeting and photographing families that had been displaced by the war, started by ISIS, in Mosul, the third largest city in Iraq. He then made his way to the battlefront.
The Peshmerga are literally “those who face death.” This legion is originally from Kurdistan, a territory in Asia Minor not recognized internationally and that is part of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. This military organization is scattered through Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. For over a year they have been fighting and resisting ISIS attacks in order to free the land they have been able to claim.
According to journalist Michael Totten, halfway through last year, the attacks of the Islamic extremist forces left a toll of five thousand murdered civilians, thousands of women turned into sex slaves, and forced several thousands of people to escape to the mountains with no food or water.
“The Kurdish people are the only group in the region whose fighting spirit beats ISIS’s”. Most of the combatants are locally recruited and “there is no recruitment through social media searching for unsatisfied foreign youths.” According to Totten, no other group or community from outside the region has offered to fight with the Kurds.
Datta’s images are intended to be a call to conscience, not just regarding the conflict of war, but also on the after-effects and the victims it leaves behind.
To learn and see more of Souvid Datta’s work, you can visit his page.
Translated by María Suárez
