Our Project

Baghdad was once a modern city, a city of awakening with red double decker busses on its streets, light-hearted music, Egyptian comedies in the cinemas and exquisitely dressed women studying at the universities.

And then along came... a forty-year dictatorship, war, oil production and civil unrest; horrific scenes, ruined buildings, bombed and burned out archives.

Is Iraq in danger of becoming a country without a memory?

Today over four million Iraqi’s are living in diaspora – dispersed across the globe, integrating in new environments, learning new languages. A new generation of Iraqi’s is growing up, one that is learning less and less about the history of its country.

Our interactive web project IRAQI ODYSSEY elaborates on something Iraqi-Swiss filmmaker Samir began by documenting the stories of his own diasporic family and thereby reassembling a piece of Iraqi history.

History is a collection of many small stories. We want to provide a platform for this multitude of histories. For all your personal experiences put together create a rich history. A private, subjective history of Iraq, a multi-medial melting pot of texts, photos, music, private film and sound recordings. A collection that presents a different Iraq, an Iraq that has been lost during years of western reporting. A history of individuals rather than news-items. A history of humans for humans.

Join and be a part. #YourIraq