Baghdad in its golden age, photographed by a legend

Latif Al Ani (*1932 in Baghdad) who was the first to capture cosmopolitan life in Iraq in the 1950s to 1970s is known as the “father of Iraqi photography”. His black and white images represent a unique visual memory of the country during its belle époque. Al Ani presented the vivid Iraqi culture in its abundance and complexity: besides documenting the westernized everyday life, the political culture and industry, he also captured images of Iraq from the air for the Iraq Petroleum Company. However, under Saddam Hussein’s oppressive regime he ceased photographing. Today, his photographs give testimony to an era long gone. The exhibition at the Iraq Pavilion during the Venice biennale in 2016 focused on works from the early period of his career, showing both modernising trends and the retention of ancient traditions as themes of Al Ani’s work.