A different view on the war in Iraq from western media. Here is the blog of a girl living in Iraq right now. She speaks about what it is like to live in fear of suicide bombers, soldiers, and government officials on a daily basis.
This is what she had to say about waking up to the news of the assasination of an elderly Sunni tribal leader and his son's.
Kevin Sites Blog- war correspondant.
This is a poignant photo essay on the Boys of Samarra.
photo, Kevin Sites
I chose to a link to this particular story over others, of which you can read by clicking the above link to his blog, because it gives an inside view of an outsider's observations. He describes small parts of life as he followed the marines as they put down the insurgence in Iraq. Observations like the smells and sounds of the places they enter, his inner thoughts and impressions as the soldiers go about their routines of rounding up families and searching for weapons and terrorists. I was moved by the photo's (especially of a little girl and her mother, fascinated even.
The Boys of Samarra remind me of a painting I once saw by a local artist. He spent a lot of time in places like Morroco, and India. I can't remember his name but he had a piece called the Lost Boys.
I saw a selection of his work a few years ago in a store whose name also alludes me. I didn't know how to properly pronouce Iraq at the time. W.M.D., and Sadam Hussein were far from my mind but for some reason that piece and its name stood out in my memory like a flashing yellow light.
It depicted rather poor looking boys in shabby dress and desert settings. They were hamming it up in front of some inferred camera lens. The realism of the painting was exquisite, the sight of the boy's ears sprouting into the longer fuller, furrier ears of donkey's was startling.
I was clearly reminded of Pinnochio and his foray into thug life as a young Italian run away wanna be boy.
When viewing the photo essay and reading the attendant notes, I can't help but think of that other painting.
When composing my last entry, I found myself thinking about art, history, and of all things, fashion. I supose it was this photo of woman and child in Tikrit that got me thinking, a little.
I'm going to see if I can hunt down the name of that local artist.
No comments:
Post a Comment