News 

In Search of the Marshes: The Disappearance of the Buffalo

A buffalo herder from the Iraqi marshes tells Akeel Khreef about the threats to his herd, as rising temperatures lead to droughts and pollute the water. “Because of the dryness and lack of water, the buffalo will drink from the marshes. It will get stuck in the mud. If the owner is not nearby it…
News 

In Search of the Marshes: Drought and Protest

Akeel Khreef reads the epic of Gilgamesh to buffaloes cooling in the depths of the marsh waters. A herder, who cannot read or write, tells him about their dwindling livestock, as the polluted waters cause diseases among the herd. “In the past water was plentiful, now it has become dirty and stagnant. The animals die…
News 

In Search of the Marshes: Drought and Protest

As reeds dry out and die from rising temperatures, Akeel Khreef attempts to save the flora of the marshes by painting the wilting plants green. Khreef is highlighting how pollution and rising temperatures are slowly destroying Iraq’s famed, age-old marshlands, which appear in the epic of Gilgamesh and were named a UNESCO Heritage site in…
Event 

In Search of the Marshes: the Death of Agriculture

Akeel Khreef arrives at the Chubayish marshes near Nassiriya. All is not well, local resident and environmental activist Assad Al Jasim tells him, as he drives him deeper towards the river bank. “We have droughts, lack of water, and severe pollution,” he says, “many people are migrating.” At the banks of the marshes, he encounters…
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In Search of the Marshes: the Iran-Iraq War

The Marshes became a battle ground during the Iran-Iraq war, and Saddam Hussein later drained them to punish the Marsh Arabs for participating in uprisings against him. It took decades for the delicate ecosystem of the marshes to begin to recover, and they were named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2016. From his studio…
News 

In Search of the Marshes: The Karkh and the Rusafa

The eastern and western banks of the river Tigris that runs around Baghdad are known as Karkh and Rusafa. They serve as the starting point for the Baghdad-based artist Aqeel Khreef’s exploration into the effects of climate change on Iraq’s southern marshes, which the ancient Tigris river feeds into. In the footage below, Khreef crosses…