Journeys in Kurdistan
Journeys in Kurdistan
11 chromogenic digital prints and a book, 2003
Isabella Bird (1831 – 1904) was born in Tattenhall, UK. She made several journeys all around the world and published many articles and books during her life. One of these books is Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan published in 1891. She arrived in Persia in January 1890. She sailed from Karachi and arrived at the port of Barsa. Next she travelled to Tehran through the mountains of Kurdistan. She continued her journey to Esfahan where she joined Bakhtiaris and then travelled with them through Kurdistan once again.
Kalle Hamm arrived in Tehran 2003, 113 years later than Isabella Bird. He took a bus from Tehran to Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan. During his journey he tried to find the same places where Isabella visited. He photographed people, places and landscapes according to the illustrations in Isabella’s Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan. Hamm made also a book, which contains six quotations from Bird’s book and after each quotation there is a present day Kurd’s comment on that.