'Ghosts of History,' Iraq War story told in exhibition of work by Moises Saman, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer

In the photograph, the man is wearing a dark suit, a light-colored shirt and striped tie. His head is slightly downturned, as if he is carefully watching where he is stepping. And he's carrying a briefcase as he traverses the rubble-strewn street in the Waziriyah neighborhood of Baghdad in 2004 during the American-led invasion of Iraq. Black smoke is rising from the charred remains of U.S. Army vehicles, suggesting a recent firefight.

It's an image that still haunts the 2025 Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, Moises Saman, who took the photograph while covering the Iraq War for Newsday. He would return to Iraq for much of two decades to cover the aftermath of war, showing its effects on Iraqi civilians, some since the Americans pulled out in 2011 and ISIS terrorists infiltrated afterward.

"He's walking through this scene of carnage with a briefcase," Saman, 51, recalled in an interview this week by phone from Amman, Jordan. "I never got to speak to this man. It was such a quick moment. To this day, I'm still wondering who that man was. Where was he going? ... Was he going to work?" 

Saman added, "Certainly, there weren't many jobs at that time where people were wearing suits to go to work. ... It speaks to the idea of continuity and resilience, which gets lost in covering wars. We tend to focus on the shock and awe," he said, alluding to the phrase the American government used in its bombing campaign at the start of the Iraq War in 2003.

Saman had his own harrowing experiences in Iraq, notably when he and Newsday reporter Matt McAllester — along with two other Western journalists and an American peace activist — were arrested by Iraqi secret police in 2003 and held in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison for eight days. Their whereabouts were unknown for several days, as Newsday executives, with the aid of U.S. and international intermediaries and journalists, worked to locate the pair and get them released.

Exhibition at SUNY Old Westbury

The effects of the Iraq War continue to reverberate on the people who remain, Saman said. That is the subtext of an exhibition of his work in that country, called the "Ghosts of History," slated to be on display at SUNY Old Westbury's Amelie A. Wallace Gallery from Wednesday to Oct. 10.

The exhibition was first shown in the United States last year at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. Zainab Saleh, director of the John B. Hurfurd '60 Center for the Arts and Humanities at Haverford, said in an interview she was approached by Magnum Photos about showcasing the exhibition. She called Saman's work "tremendous," noting that as an anthropologist who studies Iraq and an Iraqi herself, she was interested. 

"I think what’s significant about his [Saman's] work, especially this exhibition on his work in Iraq, it really offers a haunting visual record that contrasts with the official account of the invasion and occupation of Iraq as provided by U.S. politicians and journalists," she said.

How individuals cope in time of war, their resilience and ways they find to resist, Saman said, "are the parts that inspire me and continue to inspire me as I do my work in Sudan, Syria and other places."

One salient idea he wants to impart, Saman said, is "wars are not only fought in battlefields ... They're also fought in narratives. Who gets to tell the story determines what we see and don't see."

The photographer added, "This is about opening a space for questioning some of these narratives and remembering ... These ghosts are still part of people's daily lives in certain places."

The exhibition grew out of his 2023 book "Glad Tidings of Benevolence," and is a collaboration with Magnum Photos, a photography cooperative of which Saman is a member.

"This sort of grew up organically when we were putting a book together," he said. "I felt this project really lent itself to be shown in a museum or gallery setting. I was working closely with Isabella," he said of Isabella Howard, Magnum's cultural manager, who oversees the development, production and placement of Magnum's touring exhibitions and cultural programming.

Over 50 images in exhibition

Howard, who is based in Manhattan, said in a separate phone interview Saman's book and the exhibition, which includes more than 50 images as well as a variety of military documents, present an opportunity to show others "the importance of questioning what you read, what you say. Taking a critical approach to the way key events, moments in history are narrated to you."

Hyewon Yi, director of the college's Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, said when she was approached by Magnum about the exhibition, she agreed because the war wasn't much in the public consciousness.

"I haven't really seen many other museums or university galleries talking about it," said Yi, an assistant professor in SUNY Old Westbury's visual arts department. "I wanted to provide an opportunity for our students to reflect on this war, the consequences, what happens to civilians. We seem to have forgotten about those people. And the exhibition provides the details, the visuals."

Howard and Saman are scheduled to deliver separate talks about the exhibition at SUNY Old Westbury. Howard will appear on Sept. 15, 2:30-4:30 p.m., at the college gallery, followed by a reception. While walk-ins are accepted to Howard's talk, Yi said she would like to know in advance how many are coming. She is at yih@oldwestbury.edu or 516-876-2790 and 516-876-3056. Saman's virtual talk via Zoom is Sept. 25, 10-11:30 a.m. Registration is required at https://www.amelieawallacegallery.org/moises-saman.