Walking around and inside “Barika” a refugee camp, 30 minutes outside of Sulaimaniya in Iraqi Kurdistan.

It was a beautiful sunny day, colorful laundry was hanged all around and on top of the UNHCR’s tents or half build cement walls….

Mesmerized with the seen and overwhelmed with the sadness of their living situation, for a long while I just walked with camera in my hand without taking a single photo……

I start talking to people who were willing to talk to me. So many hard breaking stories from their time and escape from the horror of ISIS in Rojava and brutal challenges they are facing in the UNHCR’s refuge camp.
Not enough oil to warm their tent in the cold winter nights!
Not enough food to feed themselves and much more.

Shahrzad Arshadi
Winter 2016

Small collection of photos from my first day visit...Colour and B&W /

The Grannies move into Montreal
March 11, 2003
(c) Shahrzad Arshadi

The Raging Grannies are a made-in-Canada movement that originated in Victoria, B.C. The Montreal chapter has been active locally since Earth Day, 1990, primarily as a peace and nuclear disarmament group, but whose many concerns extend to environment, social justice…and simply changing the world while still having fun!

In their recognizably flamboyant costumes, they use humour and satirical songs about very serious subjects. Their ultimate goal is to leave a better planet for all the grandchildren of the world. There are chapters across Canada and new ones springing up in the U.S. and abroad.