Displaced Iraqis: A Crisis Unleashed--Visual Advocacy Project

Imagine yourself living in the home you do right now and have a comfortable life. All of a sudden, you lose all of your possessions in one day. Your country has been invaded and chaos is everywhere. Your neighbors have lost their loved ones, they have lost their jobs, and they have lost faith in their land. Instead of fighting against the occupying force, they turn against their own people. They begin to kidnap and force people out of their homes, threaten lives, and turn to weapons to avoid the feeling of inferiority. Sadly, this is all done for money. Yet according to a BBC report, “Iraq’s proven oil reserves of 112 billion barrels are the world’s second largest, behind Saudi Arabia.” Despite all of Iraq’s wealth, the people are being driven out of the country.

This has been life for many Iraqis due to the invasion in 2003. Today, around thirteen percent of the population is displaced; of whom 2,256,000 Iraqis are internally displaced, around 1.4 million in Syria and 750,000 in Jordan, and the rest are displaced in neighboring Arab countries and around the world (Displaced Iraqis around the World).

The thirty-second video I have created depicts scenes of this chaos. I chose a simple layout to maintain a focus on the pictures. The opening of the video is a map of Iraq’s oil fields. It is sad to see my country suffer this way, but what is even more heartbreaking and disappointing, is to have such great wealth in our oil fields and the country keeps on suffering the way it is. Thus I chose to place the map in the beginning to give the viewer an understanding that despite the war, Iraq is still rich. Yet the lack of investments, motivation, and the fear that is instilled in people’s hearts, is what holds the country back from overcoming the war.

These past five years went by at the cost of Iraq’s oil and blood. Will Iraq overcome this bloody nightmare? Will the children, who are growing up and witnessing this war, ever have the will and power to rebuild their country? I ask myself to this day; what happened to my land, my people, my beloved Iraq?