We came from fire is the first book by Joey L., which gathers the photos of his journeys to Iraq and Syria in 2015.
The reportage: the faces of the war in Syria
Surely not an easy journey. Problems began from the airport: his destination (not Cancun, as he told to his mother) is Sulaymaniyah. You can get to the Iraqi city only after a stopover in Turkey. The same front door used by foreign fighters to reach the frontline camps for the war against ISIS. Traveling alone with all the photographic equipments was suspicious.
In Iraq, Joey and his local guide Jan Ezidxelo reached Makhmour, the kurdish city of Iraq, with a twisted journey of a day to avoid places controlled by ISIS. And then Duhok, Zakho, and, through a river, the mountains of Syria. As he tells on his blog post, it is essential to work with a person you can trust. Unfortunately, Google Maps does not work because it has not the option avoid ISIS’ check points.
Through this reportage and this book, Joey wants to humanize with his portraits a war that seems so far as the Syrian one. The fight against the Islamic State in 2015 was on the newspapers’ frontpages and Joey’s attention was captured by a particular in the big painting of the fight: the kurdish fighters, who fight not only for the liberation from Isis, but especially to get the coveted indipendence.
This soldiers will be the subject of Joey’s investigation, now published in his book. During the journey, he asked to his local guide to photograph people, and not conflict scene. And faces and gestures of this women and men are what emerge more clearly from the photos.
The book
You can order the book We Came From Fire from Joey L’s website or contact us. In addition to the book, you can also have a signed print of his reportage.
