Known as the “father of Iraqi photography,” Latif al Ani (born 1932) was the first photographer to capture cosmopolitan life in 1950s–70s Iraq, and his black-and-white images constitute a unique visual account of the country during its belle époque. Al Ani portrayed Iraq’s culture in all of its abundance and complexity: besides documenting its westernized everyday life, the political culture and industry, he also captured images of Iraq from the air, for the Iraq Petroleum Company. Under Saddam Hussein’s oppressive regime, however, Al Ani ceased photographing.
Today, his photographs give testimony to an era long gone. His exhibition at the Iraq Pavilion during the Venice biennale in 2016 focused on works from the early period of his career, which reveal both Iraq’s modernizing trends and the retention of ancient traditions as particular themes of Al Ani’s work.
Featured image is reproduced from 'Latif Al Ani.'
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
It's Nice That
Rebecca Fulleylove
Latif Al Ani has become known as the 'founding father of Iraqi photography' . . . [his] images crystallise the 'golden age' decades of Iraq like no one else has or will ever be able to do again.
Rencontres d’Arles
Historical Book Prize
Monocle
Headlines about Iraq are rarely positive these days. However, a new photography book from Berlin-based imprint Hatje Cantz offers another viewpoint on the history of this embattled and war-torn part of the Middle East.... Ultimately the book provides some hope that Iraq may be able to rekindle a similarly progressive spirit to overcome its current divisions and strife.
The British Journal of Photography
Diane Smith
The founding father of Iraqi photography… showing a cosmopolitan Golden Age in Iraq from the 1950s-1980
Atlas Obscura
Anika Burgess
2017's Most Wondrous Photography Books
Financial Times
Jackie Wullschlager
The year’s most revelatory photography book
APOLLO
Mary Pelletier
The breadth of subject matter within Al Ani’s work is astonishing.
“The past is mine, not the future. That is for others,” Latif Al Ani is quoted in the remarkable new monograph from Hatje Cantz. “The impact of the images will be more important in the future, as they show a vanished world … It is counterintuitive; things are meant to progress forwards, not backwards. I had a strange incident around 2004, when I went to a kiosk to buy a newspaper. The man told me it had sold out because of a calendar supplement of photographs. I asked him what it was, and he said, I don’t know, some photographs of Baghdad by a man called Ani. I told him, I was the photographer. He was so surprised he kissed me. He asked if Baghdad really was like that? He couldn’t believe it was the same city he lived in. He said: ‘It was so ordered and clean. Why are we like this today?’” Featured image is “Shopping in Baghdad” (1964). continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 11.5 x 10 in. / 200 pgs / 200 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $60.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $79 ISBN: 9783775742702 PUBLISHER: Hatje Cantz AVAILABLE: 9/26/2017 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA LA
Published by Hatje Cantz. Text by Morad Montazami.
Known as the “father of Iraqi photography,” Latif al Ani (born 1932) was the first photographer to capture cosmopolitan life in 1950s–70s Iraq, and his black-and-white images constitute a unique visual account of the country during its belle époque. Al Ani portrayed Iraq’s culture in all of its abundance and complexity: besides documenting its westernized everyday life, the political culture and industry, he also captured images of Iraq from the air, for the Iraq Petroleum Company. Under Saddam Hussein’s oppressive regime, however, Al Ani ceased photographing.
Today, his photographs give testimony to an era long gone. His exhibition at the Iraq Pavilion during the Venice biennale in 2016 focused on works from the early period of his career, which reveal both Iraq’s modernizing trends and the retention of ancient traditions as particular themes of Al Ani’s work.
