VIDEO: 'We will take our souls with us, nothing else': True-life portraits of Syrian refugees

In September 2015 Doctors Without Borders (MSF) invited me to document their work in Domiz refugee camp in Iraqi Kurdistan. While I primarily documented MSF’s maternity clinic, the group also invited me to meet with Syrian families who were preparing to make the perilous journey to Europe.  

Much of the Western world sees these refugees in non-human terms. At best, they are a smugglers’ victims. More typically, they are plagues, crises, or waves. Seldom is a Syrian seen as entitled to the free movement that a Westerner sees as her birthright. To most Western press, Syrian refugees are objects of pity. To most Western politicians, Syrians are objects to control.

Each family I met was a defiant rebuke to these clichés. By travelling to Europe, they hoped to reclaim a life the war had stolen from them, or at least, lay claim to a future for their children. Steel-eyed about the risks, they saw few other options. At best, the world would give them a tent and some food rations. They would try their luck on a life raft.

These are their portraits.

Thank you to Medicins Sans Frontiers, and to eight families from Domiz.