Against the Mirror (Southern Iraq), by Mudhafar Salim
A Marsh Arab poles a wooden boat, southern Iraq
A Marsh Arab poles a wooden boat in the marshes of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in southern Iraq (2010).
This is part of a series of photos I edited for Nature Iraq, to be used in a calendar and sold in public exhibitions to raise funds for Nature Iraq’s conservation efforts. Nature Iraq is the only group with a long-term presence in Iraq working to protect the country’s biodiversity. The photo is by Mudhafar Salim (and the calendar project is partly directed by Nature Iraq biologist Anna Bachmann, of Port Townsend, Washington).
Sadaam Hussein’s government attempted to destroy the Marsh Arabs (known locally as the Maʻdān) by draining swamps in the region. An important note: according to Wikipedia, the term Maʻdān means ‘primitive dweller.’ While we in the West might use the term to signify ‘an ethnic group specific to a region,’ the term can be considered offensive to a member of that group.