2009 Infinity Award: Photojournalism

Born in Amsterdam, Geert van Kesteren first worked as a photojournalist in Iraq during Operation Desert Fox in 1998 for the Dutch weekly Vrij Nederland. On his second visit to the region he met Uday Hussein, Saddam's son, which led to an exclusive interview for Stern magazine in 2000. He returned to Iraq in April 2003 and spent several months working on assignments for Stern and Newsweek. His work has been published in many other international magazines, and has led to three books: Mwendanjangula! Aids in Zambia, Why Mister, Why?(about his experiences in Iraq), and more recently, Baghdad Calling, in which Van Kesteren documents the lives of Iraqi refugees living in Jordan, Syria, and Turkey. 

Baghdad Calling reveals everyday life in the Iraq of 2006 and 2007 through the eyes of Iraqis themselves: a team around van Kesteren amassed hundreds of photographs from the mobile phones and digital cameras of Iraqi citizens that reveal places where journalists dare not tread for reasons of personal safety. These images present a sequence of exploding grenades, family parties, ethnic cleansing, dancing in the park, demolished infrastructure, and hope of better times to come.