INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTRE KURDISTAN

Photo stories to tell the story behind illegal immigration. That is the main idea of an exhibition by IMCK that was opened on June 20, 2012 by AP photographer Yahya Barzinji, in the Red Prison in Sulaymaniya. The exhibition was the result of a workshop on photo stories and illegal immigration, organised by IMCK and STATT in Sulaymaniya in May 2012. The participants of the workshop were asked to produce a photo story on the subject. The work of three winners is now to be seen at the exhibition room of the Red Prison. Yahya Barzinji talked about the importance of photo stories for Kurdish media. It is a form that is not used very much yet, but has the possibility to show often complicated subject in simple pictures. He offered the price of 500 dollars to the winner, Zmnako Ismaell, who made a photo story about a Kurd who got shot by the border guards when he tried to flee illegally to Iran, which resulted in him loosing a leg. The runner up was Halwest Azad, who made a black and ...

International photographer Eddy van Wessel returned to Kurdistan. He offered twenty photographers from Iraq a masterclass in photography. The participants are both from the Kurdish region and from Iraq. The workshop takes place from August 26 -29, 2009, at the training hall of the IMCK in Sulaymaniya. Because of the size of the group, the class is split up in a Kurdish morning session and an Arabic afternoon session. Van Wessel has been training at IMCK two times before. His participants are mainly working for the main newspapers and websites in Sulaymaniya, and for media in Arabic Iraq. The workshop is co-sponsored by SIMI (Supporting Independent Media in Iraq) in Baghdad. On one of the training days he had help from co-trainer and AP-photographer Yahya Barzinji, who talked about the practical sides of working as a photographer.