TEHRAN – A photo exhibition opened at the Zemestan Gallery of the Iranian Artists Forum in Tehran on Friday depicting the suffering Mosul civilians went through when the Iraqi city was under the reign of Daesh terrorists.

Photographer Maryam Mazruei visited the civilians’ camps set up within 20 kilometers of Mosul before the city was liberated in July.

The exhibition displaying 50 photos was called “Mosul, Turbulence Rally” due to the people who used to walk through the camps all their time desperately, she told the Persian service of MNA on Sunday.

“The people of Mosul were well off enough to be able to live a good life before the war and the homelessness came as a complete shock to all of them,” Mazruei stated.

She said that many of the NGOs working under the auspices of the United Nations pursue objectives other than their mission to provide humanitarian aid. 

“The NGOs have created a negative public image of Iranians and it is hard to work as a woman and non-European photographer in the region,” she added. 

She said that Iraqi people are suffering from a type of scopophobia and added, “Iraqi people do not like to be photographed. They lament that their country has been destroyed in the war and they have been turned into news subjects for the media, which cover their ordeal to receive awards from various international festivals.”

Mazruei has also travelled to Afghanistan several times for her projects on various themes. She said that she plans to showcase her collection on Afghan women in her next exhibition.

The exhibition will run until October 3.  

Photo: A poster for Iranian photographer Maryam Mazruei’s exhibition “Mosul, Turbulence Rally”

MMS/YAW