Ali Arkady

Ali Arkady is an artist, photographer, and filmmaker from Khanaqin, Iraq. A graduate of Khanaqin Institute of Fine Art, he has been working as an independent photographer since 2006. In 2014 Ali joined VII Photo Agency as part of their VII Mentor Program.

Ali’s work has focused on wounded and disabled Iraqis during the war, as well as the daily life of his countrymen. He has done intimate work on the plight of the Yazidis, an ethnic group residing in Syria and Iraq, after their expulsion by Daesh (Islamic State). More recently Ali produced some of the most important evidence of war crimes in the past 30 years when covering Iraqi forces in the battles for Mosul: he portrayed humanitarian conditions and conflicts with sensitivity and an unflinching eye.

Ali chose to cover the deteriorating situations of his people following the regime change of 2003. He has presented a compelling work titled ‘Iraq: Situations’ for the internationally acclaimed project ‘Over My Eyes’ produced by DARST which features several of the most important Iraq contemporary photographers.

He won the Most Resilient Journalist Award (2019) for his exceptional courage and persistence, the prestigious Bayeux Prize for War Correspondents (2017), and had his work shown as part of the Venice Biennale (2017).

His current projects include covering immigrants conditions in Europe, as well as documenting Middle East artists who left their country.