With climate change putting the future of human civilization at great risk, this photo essay transports us back to one birthplace of human civilization: the Tigris-Euphrates river valley, which includes parts of modern day Iraq. For the past five years photographer Emily Garthwaite has focused her lens here. By living alongside her subjects for long periods of time, she gained rare access to their culture. Garthwaite’s photos show fishermen, families, and children going about their daily lives in a dying landscape, often in the glow of industrial smokestacks across the marsh. With exquisite composition, the photos capture not only landscapes in decay but also the emotions of the Marsh Arab people and their struggles. One grasps the story these photos tell without having to read their captions, a sure sign of superior photography.
Published alongside an in-depth article in Noēma, a California-based magazine that takes a multidisciplinary approach to global issues, these haunting photographs enable readers to see and feel, unforgettably, the humanitarian and environmental impacts of climate change.
The Last Of The Marsh Arabs
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About the awards
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