Ayesha holds her daughter at an IDP camp on the outskirts of Herat, Afghanistan.
When Saddam Hussein was in power, he banned the Arbaeen Pilgrimage in Iraq. In doing so, many pilgrims were killed or imprisoned for a minimum of two years. Local Iraqis living on this route offered shelter to Shia Muslims and allowed them free passage during the night. They would mark their homes to signal they were safe and cook all through the night. These children are from a large family who housed Shia Muslims during the days of Saddam Hussein.
This is Ghazale. She’s 19 years old and receiving an eye test at a hospital in Qom, Iran. She has a message, “I must believe I am a powerful woman. It is my heart that makes me powerful and I cannot doubt it”.
Iraqi’s are increasingly seeking medical treatment abroad. Zainab has traveled to Bangalore, India for an operation on her spine, “Shortly after giving birth I had an MRI and they discovered a tumour in my spine. For the past 14 years, the pain has been increasing but I haven’t been able to afford the $6,000 surgery required, and Iraqi doctors said they wouldn’t risk the operation in case I was paralyzed. I was nervous to leave Iraq and journey to India. I’m thankful we were offered free treatment and that other countries are helping support us as we rebuild. We want to be self-sufficient, but it’s still early days”.
The Sun bear is the smallest bear in the world. Sun bears depend on forests and the large scale deforestation that has occurred throughout Southeast Asia over the past three decades has dramatically reduced their tropical habitat. In addition to this Sun bear numbers have been reduced by an uncontrollable exploitation for their bile. This bile is used in traditional Chinese medicine and has led to an insatiable demand for wild bears and their organs. A recent report found that 48% of Malaysia's traditional medicine shops were selling bear bile.
Pilgrims watch volunteers dressed as Yazid horsemen recreate the 7th Century Battle of Karbala in which the Yazid army set fire to the tents of Imam Hussain’s family and companions.
Nour and Maya are cousins. One half of their family is Sunni, the other is Shi’a. There are many misconceptions surrounding the relationship between Sunni and Shi’a, and I think Nour and Maya show the reality. We noticed a field of poppies and I explained that in my country they are seen as symbols of fallen soldiers. They said they believe the same in Lebanon.
"We have known war for much of our lives, and feel it. Peace is something we want, but the journey there is complicated”
Pakistani pilgrims stand in the land between the two shrines of Imam Hussain and Abbas, the sons of Imam Ali in the holy city of Karbala, Iraq. This was the evening of the ninth of Muharram as the city awaits Ashura. Hundreds of thousands of Shi’a Muslims mark the holy and mournful day of Ashura in commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad.
Young girls, working as shoe cleaners, sit outside Kohistan football club’s stadium in Herat, Afghanistan during a local premier league game.
An elderly gentleman walks back from lunch in Calcutta, India
Sayed (35) spent five years fighting Daesh as part of the voluntary Iraqi military service. This year he returned home after being shot multiple times in the shoulder and shin. Sayed’s grandfather and father fought against Saddam Hussein, and his family are well-known fighters, “Our volunteer Iraqi troops are very strong and guided by our local religious leaders who ordered us to fight. Even now I feel ready to go to war if I’m needed, this is how I function now. Give me two hours, and I’ll be there”
An Iraqi mother and daughter hold each other in the women’s quarters of Imam Hussain Shrine during Ashura. Hundreds of thousands of Shi’a Muslims mark the holy and mournful day of Ashura in commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad.
In 1971, during the general partition between India and Pakistan, the village of Tyakshi in Ladakh was divide leaving 263 families separated across the border never to see each other again. The pain remains and to this day, only 23 families have received Pakistani visas. Up until 2011, no foreigners or Indian nationals were allowed into the village. The first visitors came in 2015, after 44 years.
Women bake khubz [Iraqi flatbread] at a mokeb on a rural route to Karbala, Iraq during the Arbaeen Pilgrimage.
Geeta Devi and her daughter Priyanka share lunch in their one room home. Geeta is from the Dalit caste, and works as a manual scavenger, a job that involves removing human excrement by hand. This practice was outlawed in 1993. There are still 1.2 million manual scavengers in India due to poverty and lack of education.
An Asian elephant stands visibly traumatised, chained to a temple pillar following a six-hour procession. It was paraded through the streets of Varanasi, noisy with crowds and rocketing fireworks, in the build up to Diwali, the festival of lights. The elephant was swaying and its bloodshot eyes swirled, as its owner looked on anxiously. There are an estimated 3,600 domesticated Asian elephants in India, belonging either to the government, wealthy families or temples and used in festivals throughout the year. They are an endangered species, their wild counterparts under threat from habitat loss and conflict with humans in agricultural areas.
"In the war, I was walking during a dictatorship and in a place of pain. Now when I walk, I walk without the pain. It’s heaven. How could this not be heaven? Before we had no right to breathe but now we’re free. Imagine, at the top of this mountain where we’re walking was an Iraqi military base. Now you see they’re free. The mountains are free. We sacrificed our blood to be free. I sacrificed my blood. And here I am, walking again”. Ahmed, a member of the Peshmerga military in Choman Province in the Kurdish Region of Iraq.
Women prepare food at a mokeb on a rural route to Karbala, Iraq during the Arbaeen Pilgrimage. Every morning local Iraqis prepare the day’s bread supply, food and sweet teas for pilgrims - all of which is free
Children play on the beach of Lake Malawi, Malawi.
Palm jungle belonging to Lonsum, a British palm oil company. They claim they will soon be acknowledged as a "world leader in the movement towards true sustainability in the oil palm and rubber plantation industries". In reality, they are one of the biggest threats to the survival of the Leuser Ecosystem in Sumatra, Indonesia.
Juvenile orangutans hold on to Emmy, a keeper at SOCP's orangutan quarantine centre in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Well over 200 orangutans have been returned to the wild as a result of this work, and two entirely new wild populations of this Critically Endangered species are gradually being established, as a back up “safety net” for the remaining wild population, increasing the likelihood that at least some orangutans will survive in Sumatra’s forests in the future.
A rural pilgrim route in Al Hillah, Iraq at dusk. Pilgrims continue to walk late into the night, some walking from as far as Basra to reach Karbala. [2017]
Pine forest in Ghum, West Bengal
Self Portrait in Coron, Philippines
A coffee worker lies on a bed of coffee cherries in Yayu Wildforest in Ethiopia
Khushboo is from the Musuhar caste, one of the most marginalised communities in India. The threat of child marriage and trafficking is critically high amongst these communities. Female empowerment organisations like Nari Gunjun provide support, safe houses and education for young girls. Khushboo now lives at Nari Gunjun's boarding school in Bihar and has won nationally in karate.
Boys play in the concrete washing vats inside Dhobi Ghat, Mumbai. Dhobi Ghat is Mumbai's largest open-air laundry service.
An illegally bred Asian elephant stands inside her Mahout's home. Hidden from sight, she is one of many in line to be trained and used for tourist rides at Amer Fort in Jaipur, India.
Fatemah fled Afghanistan over fifteen years ago. On the 9th of Ashura, the Taliban came to her village, killing 27 men and leaving their bodies in the desert for three days. If she stayed she had two options: to accept forced conversion or die. Fatemah and her two children fled to Iran where they now live in the desert surrounding Qom. Saeedeh Vakily is one of many young Iranians working with Afghan refugees like Fatemah, and offering them food, clothing and educational support. As of 2016, there were over 951,000 Afghan refugees living in Iran.
Dawn on the Kinabatangan River in Sukau, Borneo
My father in Surrey, UK
A tourist stands on a dock in Tromsø, Norway wearing a snow leopard coat. Snow leopards are a critically endangered species. She explained she had bought the coat illegally in South India. As she walked away she said, “If you can’t wear fur at my age, when can you?”
Trainee Buddhist monks play in the grounds of their monastery in Ranong Province, the least populated region in Thailand.
Rush hour in Mumbai, India
My mother in Paros, Greece
Inside Bachkovo Monastery in Bulgaria, one of the oldest and largest Orthodox monasteries in Europe.
My grandmother under a willow tree in Jersey, Channel Islands
An Afghan man in the Calais Jungle, 2016
Taxi drivers in Mumbai, India
Nightbus in Calcutta, India
Ben, my neighbour in London
A young man washes with soap at dawn on Lake Malawi's waters edge in Malawi.
Inside a school classroom in Yayu Wildforest, Ethiopia
Men watch a vintage car race at Goodwood Revival in England.
Palm tree electrical pylon in Casablanca, Morocco
An Iranian teenage boy on hunger strike in the Calais Jungle. A total of 12 men stitched their mouths and remained on hunger strike for 25 days.
A biker outside the famous Bagel store on Brick Lane, London
A young boy rests in a fishing net hammock in Sandakan, Borneo.
An abandoned car in Western Sahara, a disputed territory bordering Morocco
Three sisters feed seagulls in Mumbai, India
A young man flees the south Calais Jungle during its closure in February 2016.
Women queue at the entrance to Zeynab's Hill in Karbala, Iraq.
A young mother poses in a local restaurant on the outskirts of Pushkar, Rajasthan
A woman working at a paper recycling plant in Kolkata, a city recently celebrated for its waste management schemes which deserve to be implemented around the rest of India
Goodwood Revival in England, UK
A woman jostles through the crowd to view a Porsche engine at Goodwood Revival in England.
Adrian at home in Highgate, London
Night bus in London, UK
Liverpool Street walkway in London, UK
Jamie in Surrey, UK
Serpentine in London, UK
Beach walkers in Koh Phangan, Thailand
CJ during a fundraiser for St Giles Trust, a charity that support ex-offenders in the UK.
A woman stands on Westminster Bridge in London, UK
Turbine Hall inside the Tate Modern in London, UK