ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Kurdish photographer turned the lens of his camera on the agony of families whose loved ones have disappeared trying to reach Europe, hoping to convey to the world the pain of these families in what is often a faceless story of anonymous “migrants.”

Shamal Hisamadin, from Kurdistan Region’s Sulaimani province, opened his Waiting Room exhibition in Warsaw on Friday. The event, which will run until the end of this month, showcases the ordeal of Kurdish families whose loved ones who left full of hope, in pursuit of better lives in Europe, but have disappeared on the perilous routes.

“My main objective is to showcase the tragedy of migration,” Hisamadin told Rudaw English on Wednesday. He said that he wants Westerners to take an interest in the plight of the families of the missing “and try to find even the slightest information about the missing.”

Thousands of people have disappeared trying to reach Europe. In the past decade, more than 28,000 people have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, according to the International Organization for Migration. 

Hisamadin’s photographs have elicited emotional responses.

“Many people were brought to tears after hearing the stories and seeing the photos,” he said. “Many of them used to work on the borders and witnessed the death and torture of many people.”

The event is put on by a joint collaboration between the Helsinki Foundation and the Kurdistan Center for Arts and Culture (KCAC). 

“Through a powerful blend of photography, sound, film, and dialogue, ‘Waiting Room’ offers a profound reflection on the human impact of forced migration,” the Kurdistan Region-based KCAC said in a post on X on Sunday. 

Thousands of people leave the Kurdistan Region every year in pursuit of better lives in Europe. Insecurity and financial hardships are among key factors behind the exodus. A large number of them die en route or are deported after reaching Europe. 

Around 20,000 people from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region left the country in 2023 and at least nine of them lost their lives on dangerous and illegal smuggling routes, according to the Summit (Lutka) Foundation for Refugees and Displaced Affairs.

In the latest tragedy, dozens of Kurds from the Kurdistan Region and Kurdish areas of Western Iran were among around 70 people who lost their lives after two ships capsized off the Italian coast earlier this week. Many of them are unaccounted for. 

Bakhtyar Ismail told Rudaw on Wednesday that 11 of his relatives are among those who drowned. Three of his family members survived but are fighting for their lives in hospital.

Photos: submitted