Yalla Habibi

»The truth is the first victim of war. Hosam Katan refused to believe this, he simply did not accept it – not for the people in his hometown.« (Frank-Walter Steinmeier, former Foreign Minister of Germany)

»When a Syrian Army sniper shot Hosam Katan in Aleppo in May 2015, Mr. Katan couldn’t feel where the bullet had hit. He hoped it wasn’t his eye or his thigh. In five years photographing the Syrian conflict, he had seen enough colleagues shot to know which wounds were fatal, and which were not. As he lay bleeding, he realized he might soon join Marie Colvin and James Foley on the list of journalists killed covering Syria’s civil war.

His story is different, not just because he survived, but because he is Syrian. His story reveals much about how coverage of the conflict has changed: from a war reported by foreign correspondents flying in for brief visits to one almost entirely covered by local journalists with no means of escape. Many had little to no journalism experience, yet their work now forms the backbone of Western coverage.

And among the best was Hosam Katan.«

(from: ‘I Am Not Useful for My Camera if I Die': A Syrian Photographer’s View, by Karam Shoumali for The New York Times LENS, Aug. 30, 2017)

»The images are direct and unsparing, showing victims of the war and the emotions of the surviving mourners. In parallel, the photo book presents youngsters bathing in bomb craters, a man looking after stray cats, and an improvised vegetable stand amid the ruins. Children at play, joy, sadness, despair live side by side and can change at any second, just like the situation in the beleaguered city.«

(from: Book of the Month, LEICA Fotografie International, Jan 9, 2018)