The Architecture of Space

BENJAMIN LOWY

In His Own Words

 ©Benjamin Lowy, courtesy Reportage by Getty Images 

Series: Iraq | Perspectives
Title: Untitled, 2005—2008
Size: 12"x18"
Medium: C-Type
Edition: 20

Price: $1,250

“Confronted by a level of violence so high that walking on the streets to photograph was tantamount to suicidal behavior, I found myself confined to working with American soldiers, spending most of my time going on various missions in armored Humvees. My only view of Iraq was through inches-thick bulletproof windows. This vantage on the Iraqi street is one rarely seen by the American public, but it is the most common point of view for U.S. soldiers. 

These images are not intimate—they reflect a distant and detached perspective on a country that is so empty, so desolate, on a situation so dire. The windows represent a barrier that impedes dialogue. The pictures illustrate a fragment of Iraqi daily life taken by a transient passenger in a Humvee; yet they are a window to a world where work, play, tension, grief, survival, and everything in between is as familiar as the events of our own lives.”