5180 x 3443 px | 43,9 x 29,2 cm | 17,3 x 11,5 inches | 300dpi
Data acquisizione:
1993
Ubicazione:
Iraq Kurdistan
Altre informazioni:
Diyana Spring, a huge arsenal for the Iraqi army during the Iraq/Iran war. Thousands of mortars, shells and anti- aircraft rounds litter the road leading around the horseshoe shape valley. Enclaves where tanks and rocket launchers had been stationed during the war cut into the mountain at regular intervals. All the shells scattered around Diana Spring are in danger of exploding, but family's search for recyclable material to feed themselves. Brass bullet casing can be sold in the local market for three dinar or 7p a kilo. Bullets, which can be retrieved from the earth intact and polished up for re-use, are worth a little more. Removing the brass bands which circle the thousands of mortars found in the area is a more lucrative affair, as is emptying the RPGs of the copper cones that lie inside. A kilo of copper or bronze will fetch up to 30 dinar in the local market. On a good day 10 kilo should be enough to buy a bag of rice. The family's who search for recyclable items from this arsenal have no other source of income. The double embargo imposed on Iraq Kurdistan – one by the international community on Iraq, the other on Iraq Kurdistan by President Saddam Hussein's regime – has pushed food prices so high that family's have little option but to risk life on a daily basis to survive. Taking copper and brass from the shells has become a thriving cottage industry despite the risks involved.
