I am excited to share a major new multidisciplinary collaboration: an upcoming photo book and exhibition created together with the Kurdish poet Houzan Abdulghani.
This project explores the profound intersection of photography and poetry, structured around the four symbolic colors of the Kurdish flag. Rather than treating color as a mere aesthetic choice, we use each hue as an emotional, cultural, and visual lens—mapping the human experience from struggle and peace to land, memory, and hope.
Here is an exclusive preview of how the book unfolds across its four chapters:
Chapter 1: Red — Rûmet (Sacrifice & Vitality)
Symbolism: Passion, history, bloodline, battle, and the raw heartbeat of survival.
Visual Identity: Warm, dark, and saturated tones. The visual narrative leans into low evening light, shadows, and tactile textures—brick, rust, roses, fire, warm skin tones, and woven textiles. The camera stays close, intimate, and emotionally charged.
Poetic Themes: Roots, the struggle for identity, intense passion, memories of lost horizons, and the endurance required to keep moving forward.
Chapter 2: White — Aştî (Peace & Light)
Symbolism: Peace, freedom, purity, truth, and unyielding hope for the future.
Visual Identity: High-key photography bathed in soft, luminous light. Misty horizons, snow, whitewashed walls, high-exposure surfaces, and open landscapes where negative space is allowed to breathe.
Poetic Themes: Stillness, reconciliation, the aching desire for freedom, and the quiet space needed for inner reflection.
Chapter 3: Green — Kurdistan (The Land & Rebirth)
Symbolism: The rugged Kurdish mountains, raw nature, springtime, fertility, and renewal.
Visual Identity: Deep greens, moss, foliage, sweeping topography, morning dew, and organic forms. The visual cadence alternates between majestic, sweeping vistas and intimate close-ups of growing flora and earth.
Poetic Themes: The umbilical bond to the soil, roots, natural cycles, the tension between exile and homeland, and the promise of a coming spring.
Chapter 4: Yellow — Roj (The Sun & Wisdom)
Symbolism: Roj (the central sun with its 21 rays), enlightenment, energy, awakening, and cultural heritage.
Visual Identity: Golden hour radiance, sunrises, sunsets, backlighting, yellowing fields, brass details, and shafts of light cutting through shadowy rooms—casting a warm, almost mystical glow over the subject and setting.
Poetic Themes: Awakening, wisdom, light penetrating the dark, and the eternal central role of the sun in Kurdish culture and mythology.
Stay tuned for behind-the-scenes previews, sample spreads, and official announcements regarding exhibition dates and venue locations!
