Kurdistan, A Dream Suspended

An illustrated lecture by Richard Wilding

Frome Festival, Somerset

6th July 2016

Richard Wilding gave a lecture and presentation of his photography of Iraqi Kurdistan, exploring the region’s ancient civilisation, its rich and colourful culture, ethnic and religious diversity, history of persecution and renewal, and the current refugee crisis.

His subjects included the Erbil citadel, which claims to be the world’s oldest continuously inhabited city, the Yezidi shrine of Lalish, the tombs of Old Testament prophets and the canal built by King Sennacherib to water the famed gardens of Nineveh.

Wilding’s photographs also document the legacy of Saddam Hussein’s brutal suppression of the Kurds, the onset of ISIS and the resulting refugee crisis which has seen 2 million displaced people seeking refuge from the nearby conflict in Iraqi Kurdistan.