Khoramshahr number by number, No. 1

About the Photographer

Kazemi, Babak

Iranian, b. 1983

Combining markers of conflict and domesticity, Babak Kazemi offers a commentary on the Iran/Iraq War, the longest battle of the twentieth century, and the second longest violent conflict after the Vietnam War. In Khorramshahr Number by Number, Kazemi superimposes photographs of local people and scenes onto house number plates from destroyed homes in the war-torn city of Khorramshahr, located on Iran’s border with Iraq. Openly blaming the nearby oil fields for the political upheaval he witnessed, Kazemi prints his photographs in petroleum products. The works symbolize the 75,000 displaced residents of the city, bringing into view the human and financial costs of war.