Helsinki · Kurdistan · Since 2012
Photographs about leaving, waiting, and what comes after.
I am a photographer and visual artist based in Finland. My work explores social issues, human experiences and personal narratives, much of it shaped by my own journey as a refugee who arrived here in 2016. I see photography as a way to express complex emotions, tell stories, and build understanding between communities.
Most of the projects below were made inside research collaborations or on a voluntary basis, and several run over years rather than weeks.
Exhibitions and series
Each project has its own link, so a single body of work can be sent on its own.
Film and video
Documentary and music video work, in various roles, much of it voluntary.
Publications, exhibitions and press
Photographic work has been published since 2014, early on under the names Rewan Kakl Ahmad and Rewan Black Bor.
Biography
Born in Iraqi Kurdistan, photographing since 2012. The earliest published work is from Iraq: a music video filmed in Kawergosk refugee camp in 2013, and photographs commissioned by UNFPA in 2014. I crossed the Mediterranean in 2015 and arrived in Finland in January 2016, where I began photographing in the reception centre in Rauma while waiting for a residence permit. That series became Dreams, and the questions in it have run through the work ever since.
My projects have included documentary photography and exhibitions, where I have worked across every part of the process: making the photographs, building the shows, and collaborating with researchers, poets and the people in the pictures. Several have been voluntary, reflecting an interest in the subject rather than a commission.
Earlier commissioned work, in theatre and at events between 2017 and 2019, was credited as Rewan Black Bor.
Enquiries
rewankakl.photography@gmail.com
Full CV, exhibition history and high-resolution files available on request. Commissioned portrait and event work is listed separately.