Mayor Lara Yousif Zara on the Future

BOSTON AREA PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER

In this video I am interviewing Lara Yousif Zara, the first female mayor of Alqosh.

She had been a school teacher in town. She is known for her superior negotiating skills.

In this interview I asked her what needs to change to bring about the future she envisions.

“Only the governments of all the great countries can interfere and help stop war in our lands and the plight of our people. And give them the same basic rights and freedoms that people in Europe and America have.”

Check out my other Nineveh interviews and see photos and read more of my story in a blog post by ARCH International. Here is an excerpt:

“‘Are you documenting this??’ This is a very common reaction we get after we tell people the longer version of what we are doing in Iraq, the more entwined story, full of fascinating details, ups and downs, and steady progress.

Since Kathryn Costello joined ARCH, we have a photographer on the team. So, yes, we were documenting our project before, but with Kathy we now have professional images to go along with many of the stories we love to tell.

Recently, her photos, taken on two trips to Iraq, were exhibited at the beautiful former Harvard Public Library (1887), now a community arts collaborative, Fivesparks, in the town Harvard, Massachusetts.”

Until my next trip to Iraq I am working out of my studio shooting portraits, headshots, personal branding for the entreprenuer and creative dancers and I work on location.