Why Mister why ? Iraq 2003-2004

Geert van Kesteren
Why Mister why ? Iraq 2003-2004
Photographs: Geert van Kesteren
Text: Geert van Kesteren, Michael Hirsh & Jan Gruiters
Publisher: Artimo
544 pages
Pictures: 245
Year: 2004
Comments: Softcover, 225 x 175 mm. True first edition, 2004. Text in dutch, in arabic and in english. Printed on magazine stock. Design by Mevis & Van Deursen. Included in The Photobook by Parr & Badger, vol.2, p.258/259 ; The Dutch Photobook, p.147-148. In very good condition, a small crease on the upper part of the spine (0,5cm)
Dutch photojournalist Geert van Kesteren made these harrowing images while embedded with American troops between 2003 and 2004, starting just after President Bush declared “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq. Presented as a kind of anti-coffee table book, Why Mister Why, with over 250 photos printed on magazine stock with perforated edging, makes for a curious object from the start. In it, van Kesteren’s layered documentary aesthetic produces a complex portrait of Iraq during the U.S. occupation. Van Kesteren covers interrogations at Abu Ghraib, excavation of mass graves, U.S. soldiers on patrol, and daily life in Iraq as families struggle to regain some sense of normalcy amidst rubble. Make no mistake, though, these photographs are decidedly unsympathetic to the U.S. war effort. In fact, many of them depict terrified Iraqi civilians cowering at the mercy of U.S. soldiers, who look massive and menacing in comparison. It’s not that van Kesteren denigrates the soldiers surrounding him; he steers shy of portraying them as shameful, but he deftly reveals them to be utterly unprepared for the chaotic instability of post-“Mission Accomplished”-Iraq. These photographs are painful to see, but show a fascinating and in-depth European perspective.













more books by Geert van Kesteren
more books tagged »dutch « | >> see all
-
How Terry likes his coffee
by Florian van Roekel
sold -
La Douceur de vivre
by Ed van der Elsken
Euro 300 -
Elisabeth - I want to eat (ONLY 150 COPIES - WITH A PRINT)
by Mariken Wessels
sold -
Hyde
by Koos Breukel
sold -
In Jehoshaphat's Valley
by G.H Breitner & Harold Strak
Euro 30 -
ASAKUSA
by Ronin de Goede
sold
more books tagged »war« | >> see all
-
Silent Histories (Only 45 copies)
by Kazuma Obara
sold -
Kounichisen
by Tadao Mitome
sold -
Sentinelles de l’ombre (Signed)
by Jane Evelyn Atwood
sold -
Buzzing at the sill (SIGNED)
by Peter van Agtmael
sold -
NOTES
by Raymond Depardon
Euro 300 -
FAREWELL TO BOSNIA (NEW STILL IN SHRINK-WRAP)
by Gilles Peress
Euro 150
more books tagged »first edition« | >> see all
-
Particulars (ONE OF THE 25 COPIES WITH A PRINT)
by David Goldblatt
sold -
White Night (First edition)
by Feng Li
sold -
The Hyena & Other Men (Signed first edition)
by Pieter Hugo
sold -
Leros
by Alex Majoli
Euro 200 -
The Great Masters of Art history with pictures of Jacques Chirac
by Nicolas Giraud
sold -
Belleville 1965 (LAST COPIES)
by Jean-Baptiste de Baudouin
Euro 45
more books tagged »parr & badger« | >> see all
-
She (Signed)
by Lise Sarfati
Euro 70 -
Son of a BIT
by Yasuhiko Uchihara
sold -
CONCRESCO
by David Galjaard
Euro 200 -
In Boksburg (Signed)
by David Goldblatt
sold -
Drum - Et sted i Irland
by Krass Clement
sold -
Subjektive Fotografie (vol. 1 & 2)
by Otto Steinert
sold
Books from the Virtual Bookshelf josefchladek.com