Hidden Home
The 1979 Iranian revolution brought a crackdown on Kurdish leaders, which by estimates of contemporaneous news reports claimed around 600 lives. In the years that followed, Kurdish leaders were chased into hiding by orders from Khomeini to have them arrested or killed. Since then, twenty-five Iranian Kurdish families have called Gardachal village home. Located on the outskirts of Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, it is set at a distance from the persecutions and slights that diminished their welfare back in Iran. Yet, buffered from political dangers for over two decades, Gardachal also feels once-removed from modern amenities. A friend of ours who married a Gardachal resident arranged for us to visit some local homes, where children have been born and raised without ever seeing Iran.
They hadn’t seen cameras before, either, and were enchanted to experiment with ours. After a brief demo, the children set about photographing their village, trailed by shutter clicks as they captured familiar faces and places on film. They produced some striking images and were visibly pleased with their work. To watch them, we were moved by the idea of providing cameras and training for them to grow into professional photojournalists. The backdrop of their lives could change at any moment, to be sure: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) recently accepted responsibility for a missile attack on Kurdish rebels near Erbil, their first since 1996.
