Leave and Let Us Go

Leave and Let Us Go is an intimate portrait of Iraq that aims to challenge how geopolitical events and their lasting impact are presented.

Leave and Let Us Go is the culmination of my photographic work across Iraq throughout the last decade. For generations, the Middle East has been solely defined for the West by conflict and this work aims to challenge how geopolitical events and their lasting impact are presented. 

Leave and Let Us Go began in 2017 during the Mosul Offensive with an 88km panoramic image of Mosul Road, the main thoroughfare connecting Erbil to West Mosul. Sitting on top of a truck, I took one image every three seconds and manually stitched each image together to create a visual of the landscape and daily life along a road that connected the heart of the proclaimed ISIS Caliphate to a city they could not capture.

As I continued to cover the offensive a stark divide emerged between what I was documenting and the reality on the ground. One day a soldier sat next to me and shared photos on his phone: His kills. His wife. His girlfriend. His children. His university graduation day. His wedding night. This interaction repeated itself so often, I began asking to download these first-person accounts; over the next three years, I built an archive of 350,000 images and videos from over 50 individuals across Iraq. The resulting Leave and Let Us Go is a multi-dimensional project that returns the narrative power to its own citizens and challenges the foreigners' gaze.  

Leave and Let Us Go is comprised of sections from the panoramic of Mosul Road, phone images and videos from participants as well as suspected ISIS members, scanned family photo albums, found objects, and my own documentation across Iraq. Throughout the process of building the work and choosing which images to use in the final selection, the participants were closely involved in selecting the images which they believed represented them most accurately. Before each new publication, I speak with each participant and ensure they are still comfortable with each image or video being used. This project is dependent upon its collaborative nature and is constantly growing as a result. Images taken from phones and scanned images are noted within the captions and attributed to their creator, except when the participant asked to remain anonymous. 

© Alexandra Howland - Image from the Leave and Let Us Go photography project
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Soldiers guard the main entrance of Mosul University, one of the largest educational centers in the Middle East. After taking control of Mosul in 2014, ISIS shut down the university, reopening it after a few months but limiting the academic fields.

© Alexandra Howland - Portrait of Mohammad Sawaf (b. 1987, Baghdad.)
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Portrait of Mohammad Sawaf (b. 1987, Baghdad.)

© Alexandra Howland - A unit of the Iraqi Federal Police holds the line in the Old City of West Mosul.
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A unit of the Iraqi Federal Police holds the line in the Old City of West Mosul.

© Alexandra Howland - A woman fixes her head scarf in Old City West Mosul nearly a year following the proclaimed victory over the Islamic State.
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A woman fixes her head scarf in Old City West Mosul nearly a year following the proclaimed victory over the Islamic State.

© Alexandra Howland - Image from the Leave and Let Us Go photography project
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Frontline of West Mosul. A combination of selfies from the phones of Fatima Farooq (b. 1994, Karbala) and Heshu Ahmed (b. 1993, Kirkuk).

© Alexandra Howland - Image from the Leave and Let Us Go photography project
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36°19′13.45″N 43°06′41.68″E A family carries buckets of water to their home in West Mosul under ISIS-occupied territory.

© Alexandra Howland - Image from the Leave and Let Us Go photography project
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A waiter in the rooftop bar of Hotel Palestine overlooking Firdos Square in Baghdad which once held a statue of Saddam Hussein, It was ceremoniously torn down with rope and a sledgehammer on 9 April 2003. A view of the Tigris River.

© Alexandra Howland - Image from the Leave and Let Us Go photography project
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Sundis Khazal and her two children arrived at Hamam al-Alil IDP camp in February 2017 after fleeing their home in Anbar during the fight against ISIS.

© Alexandra Howland - An Iraqi Federal Police member runs across an alley while firing his weapon towards an ISIS snipper position for cover.
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An Iraqi Federal Police member runs across an alley while firing his weapon towards an ISIS snipper position for cover.

© Alexandra Howland - A family waits for medical treatment after arriving to Hamam al-Alil camp.
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A family waits for medical treatment after arriving to Hamam al-Alil camp.

© Alexandra Howland - Image from the Leave and Let Us Go photography project
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Found image from the phone of an ISOF soldier taking a selfie after capturing 2 suspected ISIS fighters. Emojis are placed over the faces before being posted to social media. Found image of suspected ISIS fighters from phone of Ari Hewa (b. 1994, Kirkuk)

© Alexandra Howland - Found photos from the phone of Ahmed Muhammad Rovan (b. 1992, Mosul).
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Found photos from the phone of Ahmed Muhammad Rovan (b. 1992, Mosul).

© Alexandra Howland - Image from the Leave and Let Us Go photography project
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Fath Husen Ali holds the body of his daughter Rawa, 5, who was killed the night before the escaped ISIS territory by a mortar landing on their home.

© Alexandra Howland - Oil wells burn near Qayarrah.
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Oil wells burn near Qayarrah.

© Alexandra Howland - A boy plays with a plastic toy handgun in Karemles.
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A boy plays with a plastic toy handgun in Karemles.

© Alexandra Howland - Archival image from Maysoon Al Naqshbandi (b. 1962, Baghdad) who fled with her family from Iraq to Syria in the late 1990s.
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Archival image from Maysoon Al Naqshbandi (b. 1962, Baghdad) who fled with her family from Iraq to Syria in the late 1990s.

© Alexandra Howland - Oil tanks are refilled in Karamles, Iraq.
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Oil tanks are refilled in Karamles, Iraq.

© Alexandra Howland - Found images collected from the phone of a suspected ISIS fighter of two men standing in front of the Tigris River.
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Found images collected from the phone of a suspected ISIS fighter of two men standing in front of the Tigris River.

© Alexandra Howland - A Federal Police solider takes a break from his post.
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A Federal Police solider takes a break from his post.

© Alexandra Howland - Image from the Leave and Let Us Go photography project
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A found photo from the phone of Sarmed Kalel Ahmed (b. 1985, Mosul), a member of the Iraqi Police Armed Forces, giving the victory sign. A selfie from the phone of Wedyan Jalal (b. 1999, Karbala).

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