Image: Younes Mohammad from Kurds’ Open Wounds
On Friday 26 November, our panellists on Photographing conflict and the cost of war will delve into Kurdish photographer Younes Mohammad’s exhibition Kurds’ Open Wounds and expand on the subject of war and conflict photography.
Younes’ perspective on this heartbreaking subject is unique, drawing on his experience as a refugee in Iran from 1974- 1998. Despite this unimaginable experience, he graduated with an MBA from the University of Tehran. It did mean, though, that he could not follow his dream of being a photographer until much later in life.
It wasn’t until the age of forty that Younes started making photographs and documenting the world around him after he left a well-paid management position at a construction company. With his own life experience as his starting point, his images are poignant and raw. Younes was one of the judges for this year’s Head On Photo Awards, and we spoke to him in some detail earlier in the year – you can read more about his fascinating story here.
Image: Younes Mohammad from Kurds’ Open Wounds
Kurds’ Open Wounds is online, but if you’re in Sydney, you can see it at Paddington Reservoir Gardens daily from 19-28 November 2021.
The panel contributors who will join Younes in the discussion are American photojournalist Paula Bronstein, Foreign Correspondent’s Executive Producer Matthew Carney and Australian artist Stephen Dupont. All bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the discussion.
Paula Bronstein has received numerous awards throughout her long career that spans over three decades. Her expertise is documenting humanity and bringing awareness to issues throughout the world, focusing on many conflict regions. Paula has talked and exhibited with Head On Photo Festival before – in 2018 with Afghanistan: between hope and fear and in 2020 with Elderly lives frozen by conflict: Ukraine’s war.
Matthew Carney worked as a reporter and producer in all forms of journalism worldwide and has reported from some of the world’s most dangerous and challenging locations. He was the ABC’s Middle East correspondent and the China Bureau Chief, an ABC’s Four Corners reporter, and currently the Executive Producer of Foreign Correspondent.
Stephen Dupont is internationally recognised for his photography and filmmaking of the human condition, war and climate. Stephen has won Head On Photo Awards multiple times and has been involved with Head On as an exhibitor of Pasupatinath, or the ritual of death in 2012 and The Australians in 2017. He received the prestigious Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography in 2007.
Image: Younes Mohammad from Kurds’ Open Wounds
If you’d like to hear this compelling online discussion, register for free here.
