Cengiz Yar

Book Talk:
Cengiz Yar

Mon, Feb 23 • 6:30 PM

BDC Main
614 Courtlandt Ave
Bronx, NY 10451

RSVP here (not required)

Photographer and editor Cengiz Yar presents his first monograph This Alabaster Grave in conversation with journalist and producer Sangar Khaleel and photojournalist Victor J. Blue.

All images: © Cengiz Yar

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The book explores the overwhelming destruction and pain faced by the Iraqi city of Mosul, within the context of its history and unique, now largely ruined, architecture.

It questions the cost of the fight against ISIS and the global war on terror with a focus on the lives and city that bore the brunt of its destructive force. The photographs were made between 2015 and 2023.

The book includes a foreword from Azmat Khan, an essay by Campbell MacDiarmid, and a pullout map. It is designed by Jason Koxvold of Gnomic Book and written in both English and Arabic.

Cengiz Yar (@cengizya) is a documentary photographer and editor based in El Paso who has worked in visual journalism for over a decade, from reporting in the field to building groundbreaking online packages. He is currently a visuals editor at ProPublica, where he edits, photographs, and art-directs stories across the site.

Cengiz Yar (@cengizya) is a documentary photographer and editor based in El Paso who has worked in visual journalism for over a decade, from reporting in the field to building groundbreaking online packages. He is currently a visuals editor at ProPublica, where he edits, photographs, and art-directs stories across the site.

Victor J. Blue (@victorblue) is a photojournalist whose work is most often concerned with the legacy of armed conflict, human rights and the protection of civilian populations, and unequal outcomes resulting from policy and politics. His work from around the world has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, New York Times Magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek and leading publications from around the world.