Invisible Heroes by Amir Hazim

“Amir Hazim: Above The Damage” focus on his street photography during the 2019-20 Baghdad Protests, which Hazim has documented for international publications such as CNN, Arab News, The Brooklyn Rail, and The National. Instead of presenting these snapshots as reportage, “Amir Hazim: Above The Damage” will feature photographs of the protests that speak of the Baghdad youth at the fringes of these political protests, including some never-seen photographs which have not been exhibited before Groups of armed protesters in the street, architectural reflections, portraits of men wearing a face mask as shields, female demonstrators in front of a crowd of soldiers: Hazim’s work borderlines on photojournalism yet always carries a sense of classicist The Baghdad Protests, which erupted in October 2019, were a catalyst for social change in a city ravaged by the American occupation, and ensuing government corruption. At the heart of the protests were voices of young men and women who took to the city’s central Tahrir Square with bold fearlessness. This is the story of Baghdad’s renaissance: a generation whose dreams and hopes are hanging onto a thread but together weave a movement of bravery and social change.

Growing up in Baghdad, where violence and disappointment have gradually become normalized, Hazim stands out In a land where dreams have been crushed, he never lost his creative drive Instead of documenting reality, he built his reality.

His portraits purposefully show protesters in Baghdad with fresh energy on their faces and gleaming ambition in their eyes; women and men who are ready to tell their own story away from Western media and occupation. These images represent a new chapter for a city and country that has suffered from massive deaths and casualties for over two decades.