Before the war in Iraq began, the Chicago Tribune sent photojournalist Stephanie Sinclair to Baghdad. Her job was to capture in pictures a country on the brink of war. She found a lot more.
What Stephanie Sinclair saw through her lens compelled her to stay in Iraq, as a freelance photographer. She found herself focusing more on the "third side" of the war. The life that still goes on, between the bullets and bombs. In my Closer Look, you'll see this 33-year-old's award-winning photos, including one of Time Magazine's pictures of the year. In them, she says, are civilians who shouldn't be faceless.
We're used to seeing Iraq in dramatic video like this. But still photos can be even more powerful. You can't hear the fear in this toddler's eyes. But do you need to?
"Here he is looking for his parents, right after the UN bombing," explains photographer Stephanie Sinclair. "I tend to not photograph as much conflict, bang, bang. I'm more interested in the human aspect of it."
Stephanie Sinclair's photos offer a unique perspective. Not just the American soldier, but the snapshot of his daughter hanging from his rifle. Not just another highway checkpoint, but the teddy bear in the back seat.
"I try to photograph things that we can relate to," says Sinclair. "You know, most of us haven't been soldiers, we're not Iraqis, so you try to tie it to our lifestyles so we can kind of relate to what's happening there."
What's happening, she says, is both horrifying and inspiring. It's every day life, or something like it, lived against the backdrop of war.
"The millions of people just trying to go to school, go to work and make a living for their families and stuff," Sinclair says. "That's the story I feel isn't being told as much."
Sinclair spent much of the last two years focusing on Iraqi civilians: the ones caught between coalition soldiers and insurgents. She's been trapped in the middle herself.
"I was driving to catch up with the aid shipment," Sinclair recalls. "There was a U.S. convoy coming the other way. We didn't know, but there were some insurgents in the field next to us. We got caught in crossfire and we ended up in the ditch--out of our cars, in the ditch, next to the guys firing at the U.S. convoy."
It wasn't the only time the war hit Sinclair head-on.
"I was wearing, you know, an abiyah, a headscarf," she recalls. "So from a distance, we looked like two Iraqis in the car. A soldier in a Bradley put his hand out for us to stop, so we stopped. And for some reason, two soldiers came out and shot up the front of our car. From what I understand, it was some sort of warning shot. Because they didn't shoot into the glass, they just shot into the engine!"
"I understand why they would do something like that," Sinclair continues. "On the other hand, you see why the Iraqis would be so distrustful of them. Because people--they don't always just hit the engine."
I asked Sinclair if she felt lucky to have gotten out alive. She shrugged off that question. It may be best answered in her pictures. Her work in Iraq, now on display at the Garfield Park Peace Museum.
I found Sinclair most comfortable talking not about herself, not about the war, but about the Iraqi people.
"They are subject to a lot of violence in their lives that they weren't subjected to before," she explains. "Saddam was no angel with the mass graves and the wars. But at the same time, daily life was relatively safe. And now, that's just not the case."
Consider this heartbreaking photo of an Iraqi woman Sinclair befriended, and you may begin to understand.
"There was some fighting in her neighborhood," Sinclair explains. "There was a missile shot from a helicopter. She was hit by shrapnel. She lost her leg, her sister died, and her husband is deaf and mute. I mean, like, I mean, really could you imagine that?"
Sinclair's own translator was killed. Her colleagues and friends? Kidnapped.
"Do you think you'll ever come to grips with that?" I ask. "Seeing what you've seen?"
"You know, you see the worst things you've ever seen, but you also see the best things you've ever seen," Sinclair replies. "You see a strength and resilience in people that you don't see in normal life."
While not defending any violence, Sinclair says her experiences have helped her understand the resistance.
"That is an insurgent. A fighter from Fallujah," she says, pointing at one of her photographs. "He was actually very, very welcoming. He is not a Saddam loyalist. He's not a religious jihady. He's a nationalist who is fighting because he feels like his country is being dishonored by the behavior of the American military. He didn't understand why the Americans are still there, "you toppled the regime, why are you still here?"
Sinclair won a prestigious prize for some of her work in the Middle East. She donated her winnings to build a burn unit in Afghanistan. She also runs a website giving advice to young women interested in photography. Sinclair's exhibit, titled "Occupation," runs through next weekend on the West side. The Peace Museum is open Thursdays through Sundays. You can get more information online at peacemuseum.org.
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