At around 7:10 pm on August 7th 2004 on a warm summer night in Vancouver, British Columbia, on the west coast of Canada, I walked towards Blake's Café. As I walk into the café, I find it is scattered with photo connoisseurs and admirers looking at a display of photographs taken by Farah Nosh. She is an Iraqi-Canadian who went to Iraq as a Photojournalist for the New York Times and other media outlets. Farah was raised in Vancouver and studied at University of British Columbia and the Western Academy of Photography in Victoria. Yet her photos tell the story of the people of Iraq whose future has been trampled on by over a decade of sanctions and the recent U.S. invasion. On this night, her photo exhibition tells the story of her people in the aftermath of war.

Each photo tells a different story, shows a different side to the war, and lets outsiders into an Iraq that has been plastered all over the news but without a human face. Farah has captured moments that many of us will never see in real life, she brings her experiences to us so that we can feel what it is like to be in the grieve-stricken nation. Farah also took some photos that could be considered quite controversial within the Iraqi community. She took a photo of what was once Odai Hussain's belly dancer. She stands beautiful but sad with her belly dancing outfit and a dark black (abaya) cloak hovering over her outfit. Not looking as glamorous or as flamboyant as the belly dancers we are used to seeing on Arabic television shows.

There was a photo at the exhibition that not only ingeniously captures a heart wrenching moment, but brings the pain of every person who has lost a loved one to war right in front of your eyes. An old frail woman stands baffled in the middle of a war-torn area with a pain in her face that tells you that she has just lost someone she loves. Farah Nosh also spent quite a bit of her time in Iraq in the Shiite Holy sites of Najaf and Karbala. Many of her photos are pictures from 'Muharram', a time where Shiites mourn the deaths of the grandsons of the Prophet Muhammad. Her pictures take us inside the ceremonial events of this time for Shiites: women standing around beating themselves in an effort to emulate the pain and suffering of those they mourn.

It is painful enough to watch these photos in a pleasant café in the middle of beautiful Vancouver, than to be behind the camera in the middle of these horrific and distressing situations. The truth is, we have been desensitized to news reports to a point where our human reaction to death and war is significantly minimized. After looking at Farah's photos and mingling a little, I decided to walk home. I thought to myself, I have read so many articles, watched so many television shows and news reports to gain more insight on the situation in Iraq. But seeing Farah Nosh's photos is an education of its own right. There is a sensibility in the moments that Farah captures, an honesty in the human soul that Farah Nosh brings to its viewer so eloquently.

Farah Nosh's talent is not entirely focused on Iraq; she has traveled to many other parts of the world also in political turmoil, including occupied Palestine, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, among others. Farah Nosh is one to watch. A Canadian, an Iraqi, an individual who has taken it upon herself to travel around the world and be put in dangerous situations to depict a human face on a nation, that has been dehumanized, demoralized and degraded.