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Shepherds and the slaughterhouse

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23 x 15 cm
Hardcover affixed with rubber band
272 pages
Published by Galerija Fotografija, 2023
Graphic design by Aljaž Vesel in Anja Delbello/AA
Text in Slovenian, English, Mandarin

Simon Chang

45,00 €

Kurdistan was, in the past years, often the center of photojournalistic reporting. An autonomous region spanning across the north of Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran, it has been subjected to violence from Islamic radical groups (most recently) since 2014. But where many photographers turned their lens towards the conflict itself, Simon Chang seemed to be more interested in the less obvious wounds of the nation, ones concealed even inside it. Between two visits to north Iraq – one in 2018 and one in 2019, he became interested in two places existing as part of everyday life yet removed or rejected from the eye of the public. The first was Hawler, a psychiatric hospital in Erbil, and the second The Duhok Municipal Slaughterhouse in the mountains of Simele. The photographer documented his encounters both with photographs and in writing, enabling the reader to immerse themselves in the stories of the Kurdish people and catch a glimpse of their extraodrinary lives.

The book includes essays by Simon Chang in Slovene and English.

This book is a winner of Best Design Book Award at Slovene Book Fair 2023, Belfast Photo Festival Photo-Book Award 2024, shortlisted for the Brumen Design Award 2024 and the Athens Photo Festival Pick:24 Book Award 2024.

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Simon has been living and working as a documentary photographer in Europe since 2003, mainly focusing on stories about people whose voices were rarely heard, communities marginalized by mainstream society, and mental-health issues in post-conflict regions.
Shortly after graduating from the Department of Communication Arts at Catholic Fu-Jen Catholic University in Taipei, Simon relocated to Prague, the Czech Republic and was accepted to the Master’s program in photography at Prague Film and Television Academy of the Performing Arts (FAMU) in 2004.

He is currently based in Ljubljana where he has resided since 2010.
Simon was first awarded the Slovenia Press Photo Awards in the best story category (people/sport) in 2011 and was honored again in 2012 and 2015. He also received the Kaohsiung Awards in 2011 and was twice awarded the Golden Tripod Awards in 2018 and 2020; these are two of the most prestigious contemporary art and book publication accolades in Taiwan. His work has been exhibited in museums and galleries both in Europe and Asia, including the Reina Sofia museum in Madrid (Spain), the National Centre for Contemporary Arts in Moscow (Russia), National Culture Centre, Cankarjev Dom in Ljubljana (Slovenia), Balassi Institute - Collegium Hungaricum Berlin (Germany), Trieste Contemporanea (Italy), Taipei Fine Arts Museum (Taiwan), and National Art Museum in Beijing (China).

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©  2025 MISC ATHENS

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