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Behind the panels of text that gradually appear to show a quote from Shaho, is a photograph taken by Shaho titled Concrete Love. This is the same photograph that was the background to the link for this section. It shows a smiley face painted onto some concrete. The paint runs slightly around the eyes so they are not perfect circles. Above the concrete, two hands are clasped. The photograph is in black and white and remains a constant background underneath all the text.

'Everything that happens in our lives is a story;

happiness,

tragedy,

failure,

love,

peace,

war,

survival'.

- Shaho Omar, Photojournalist

These photographs show life and they tell stories.

Their stories may be incomplete. Even with Ako and Shaho's original captions placed beside them, we do not know the full story behind the images.

Take the background image 'Concrete Love', its caption tells us that it was taken in Freedom Park in Iraq, by Shaho. But even without that we already understand the importance of a smiley face when looking for hope, as many of these pictures are doing.

Ako and Shaho chose photography as a way to tell stories without words. Each of these images tells the story of happiness and tragedy, war and survival.
This black and white photograph taken by Ako Ismail is titled Family Life. It shows a woman and young boy on the right hand side of the photograph, smiling at the camera lens. There is a light, patterned tent that is opened so that we can see these people.

Family Life

By Ako Ismail

Family life still continues, clothing and feeding children, laughing and sharing moments, even in a refugee camp.

Arbat Camp, Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan Regional, 2013

All Were Lost

By Ako Ismail

This woman has lost all of her eleven family members and is the only survivor of the chemical attack.

Halabja city in Kurdistan Regional, 2013.

This black and white photograph taken by Ako Ismail is titled All Were Lost. It shows a woman wearing a head covering, holding a handkerchief up to her mouth with a grieved expression on her face. In her left hand she is holding up a frame in front of the camera lens showing photographs of her eleven family members who were all killed in the chemical attack. Other people can be seen in the background although they are partially hidden by her and the frame.
This black and white photograph taken by Shaho Omar is titled Death of the Fish. There is a strong contrast between the darkness of the river bank where the dead fish is lying, and the lightness of the river. The fish is in the foreground and takes up quite a lot of space in the image. In the background, the only other living thing is grass.

Death of a Fish

By Shaho Omar

All living things are affected in the war zone.

Daquk, Iraq, 2015.

Mother

By Shaho Omar

An Iraqi refugee shows his love for his mother by tattooing a picture of his mother on the back of his right leg.

Novotel hotel airport, Newcastle, 2020.

This black and white photograph taken by Shaho Omar is titled Mother. It shows the backs of a man’s calves where on the right hand side there is a tattoo of his mother’s face. The background is of the floor which is a patterned grey with the shadow of a happy face. The man’s sandaled feet are stood over where the nose and eyes of the face on the floor would be. Next to the left leg is an arrow pointing diagonally North-West.
This black and white photograph taken by Ako Ismail is titled Victory. This is a very light image, the background is a white tent. From inside the tent, two groups of two children are peeking out of the tent and smiling at the camera. They have two fingers up in the victory symbol.

Victory

By Ako Ismail

Children can teach us how to live in the moment and not to always think about the past. This hand symbol means ‘victory’, we’re still winners.

Arbat Camp, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, 2013.

Suicide Attack

By Shaho Omar

‏The controlled media said more than 100 people were injured and 40 people died in a suicide truck bomb that hit several Kurdish security buildings and other buildings in the Syrian city of Qamishli. ISIS claimed responsibility.

Qamishli, 2016.

This black and white photograph taken by Shaho Omar is titled Suicide Attack. It shows the aftermath of a suicide track bomb that hit multiple Kurdish security buildings in Qamishli in Syria, injuring more than 100 people and killing 40. The image shows buildings standing in the background with the foreground showing lots of people on the ground as well as some vehicles. The picture is quite zoomed out so individual people are not identifiable and the scale of the buildings to the people can be seen.
This black and white photograph taken by Shaho Omar is titled Fly Away. The foreground of the image shows some people stood in a group with a background of military vehicles and temporary shelters. The sky has no visible clouds but is filled with a large flock of birds which are specks in the zoomed out image.

Fly Away

By Shaho Omar

‏Like the birds flying from plane attacks, ISIS have been chased out by Kurdish Peshmerga government, (Peshmerga, a Kurdish Branch of the Iraqi Government).

Smailawa village, Hawija plains, 2015.

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