Over My Eyes: Stories of Iraq

On the opposite wall is a flickering video—a fire inside a cave where early man scribbled inscriptions on its walls in 50,000 BC. Iraq, formerly a part of Mesopotamia, was the birthplace of Babylon, an anicent kingdom and myth from our imaginations.

"On entering the House of Dust," a small quote near the projection reads a verse from the Epic of Gilgamesh (2100 BC), "everywhere I looked there were royal crowns gathered in heaps, everywhere I listened it was the bearer of crowns who, in the past, had ruled the land." 

While Over My Eyes portrays the lives of all Iraqis, it begins with some of the most common issues: displacement and transience of its citizens. Aran Karim's collection of photos titled Smugglers depicts families and individuals on foot and horseback, crossing from Kurdistan into Syria and Iran. They pay guards in beautiful valleys, cross rapid rivers,...