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
Price: 120 €
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 »parr & badger« | >> see all
-
Hackney Wick
by Stephen Gill
Euro 220 -
Das Land
by Manfred Willmann
sold -
William Eggleston's Guide
by William Eggleston
sold -
Rokytnik
by Jitka Hanzlova
Euro 90 -
Telex Persan
by Gilles Peress
sold -
Shashin yo sayonara / Bye Bye Photography (SIGNED)
by Daido Moriyama
sold
more books tagged »war« | >> see all
-
Pikadon / Big Sudden Flash
by Kikujiro Fukushima
sold -
Guerre morte
by various photographers
Euro 300 -
Infra
by Richard Mosse
sold -
10) The Fall (SIGNED)
by Pia Elizondo
Euro 35 -
Silent Histories (Only 45 copies)
by Kasuma Obara
Euro 700 -
19.06_26.08.1945. (Signed)
by Andrea Botto
sold
more books tagged »dutch « | >> see all
-
Hunting and fishing
by Paul Kooiker
sold -
In de Krant (In the Newspaper) SIGNED!
by Hans Eijkelboom
sold -
Showground
by Paul Kooiker
sold -
Elisabeth - I want to eat (ONLY 150 COPIES - WITH A PRINT)
by Mariken Wessels
sold -
Found footage 1999-2000
by Leoni Oostvogel
Euro 35 -
Portraits 1970-1993
by Ulay
Euro 30
more books tagged »first edition« | >> see all
-
The Girl in the Fifth Floor Walk Up (Signed)
by Charles Johnstone
sold -
Colossal Youth
by Andreas Weinand
sold -
Particulars (Signed)
by David Goldblatt
sold -
Café Lehmitz
by Anders Petersen
sold -
The Great Masters of Art history with pictures of Jacques Chirac
by Nicolas Giraud
sold -
Half awake and half asleep in the water (SIGNED)
by Asako Narahashi
Euro 200
Books from the Virtual Bookshelf josefchladek.com