The Ghosts of History
Moises Saman
Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, SUNY Old Westbury
September 10 – October 10, 2025
Reception and Talk by Isabella Howard of Magnum Photos:
Monday, September 15th, 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm
A Talk by Moises Saman: Thursday, September 25th, 10 am – 11:30 am (Zoom)
This solo exhibition examines the conflicting narratives central to the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, its aftermath, and the limits of documentary photography in reporting on a war—one that is ongoing for many Iraqis.
“Who has the power to narrate a conflict? Who determines the parameters of the frame? Which crimes or victims will be visible, and at the expense of what?” asks Magnum photographer, Moises Saman. “Who and what will be remembered and how?”
From September 10 through October 10, the Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, SUNY Old Westbury presents a selection of more than fifty prints by Saman, as well as a video commissioned by the Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery of Haverford College. The Ghosts of History highlights the 21st anniversary of the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq by exploring the construction of competing narratives of war through the interaction of images and language.
The exhibition draws from Saman’s photographs taken in Iraq over the past two decades, and is interspersed with US military maps and charts, lists of Iraqi dead, redacted transcripts, satellite images, and quotes and pop culture references tied to the war. The pairing of Saman’s images with these materials exposes the dissonance between the photographer’s portrayal of war and official rhetoric, raising deeper questions about how narratives are crafted in war and how memory is shaped.
Through this interplay of image and language, Saman draws attention to what American philosopher Judith Butler has called “the framing of the frame.” That is, the political and social biases that govern the act of “bringing an image into focus on condition that some portion of the visual field is ruled out.” The intention of the exhibition is not to create an objective account, but rather to invite viewers to actively and critically engage with all narrative frames, including Saman’s, as he grapples with his own role, bias, and impact as a narrator. Some of the frames the work contends with are courtesy of state power, images that determine “which lives count as human and living, and which do not.”
An extension of Saman’s book Glad Tidings of Benevolence (2023), The Ghosts of History is titled after the book’s introductory essay by Iraqi poet, novelist, scholar, and literary translator Sinan Antoon. The piece begins:
Two decades later, the Anglo-American invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, and the chain of catastrophic events it triggered have, by and large, receded from global public memory. This is particularly evident in the United States of Amnesia, the primary perpetrator of the war, where if mentioned at all, it is a “mistake” or a “blunder.” In the U.S’s master narrative, the war’s victims are not the Iraqi civilians, who bore the brunt of the damage, but rather the soldiers who waged it. The war’s architects have been rehabilitated and appear in public before fawning audiences who forgave or forgot their past misdeeds (read: war crimes).
Meanwhile, people outside the US, particularly those living in Iraq, “are left alone with the war. They have to live with its afterlives and afterdeaths. They have to coexist with multitudes of ghosts. There is a case to be made that wars don’t end, not for everyone involved at least.” This truth remains a pervasive feature of the Iraqi landscape, along with that of countless other countries haunted by the legacy and continuing contributions of Western imperialism. Saman’s work, with its vast web of photographs and documents, resists the ready-made frames of empire and provides a space for active remembrance where survivors and the ghosts of history can reclaim their own narrative.
“The Ghosts of History is a critical and timely exhibition offering a haunting visual record that contrasts the official accounts of the invasion and occupation of Iraq as provided by U.S. politicians and journalists in mainstream media over the past two decades,” says Zainab Saleh, associate professor of anthropology and director of the John B. Hurford ’60 Center for the Arts and Humanities of Haverford College. “This dissonance came into sharp relief during the commemorations of the 20th anniversary of the invasion in 2023 in the United States. The occupation was discussed only as a past event that offers few, if any, profound insights beyond a superficial review of the winners and losers. In this context, the reality of the invasion—in terms of its human, environmental, and political costs—was mainly erased and glossed over. The powerful historical ghosts in this exhibition make their presence known in order to beckon and to bear witness to this forgotten tragedy, revealing the ongoing afterlives of the invasion and the precarious and dystopian conditions under which Iraqis have been living.”
The Ghosts of History is a traveling exhibition organized by Magnum Photos in collaboration with the Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery. Support for the exhibition has been provided by Haverford’s John B. Hurford ’60 Center for the Arts and Humanities, Magnum Photos, and Haverford College's Distinguished Visitors Program.
There will be a talk with Isabella Howard of Magnum Photos, followed by a reception, on Monday, September 15, from 2:30–3:30 p.m. at the Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, SUNY Old Westbury, New York.
A virtual talk by Moises Saman is scheduled for Thursday, September 25th, 10:00 – 11.00 a.m. (Eastern Time) on Zoom. Registration is required. [Click here to register.]
About Moises Saman
Moises Saman is a documentary photographer and a member of Magnum Photos, currently based in Amman, Jordan. He began his career as an intern at Newsday, later becoming a staff photographer from 2000 to 2007. The attacks of September 11, 2001—just a year into his tenure—dramatically altered his path, sending him first to Afghanistan and soon after to Iraq, and thrusting him into the global coverage of the conflicts that followed. Initially following a traditional journalistic approach, Saman gradually shifted toward a more nuanced exploration of the lasting impact of war.
Over the past two decades, his work has been deeply rooted in the Middle East, capturing some of the region’s most transformative and turbulent moments. From the 9/11 aftermath and the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq to the Arab Spring uprisings, the rise of ISIS, and the fall of the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, Saman has documented not only the frontlines of conflict but also the profound human stories that emerge in the shadows of war and revolution.
Saman’s photography has received numerous awards and grants, including the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography (2025), the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting (2025, as part of a team), a Guggenheim Fellowship in Photography (2015), the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund (2014), the Henri Nannen Preis (2014), multiple World Press Photo awards, and Pictures of the Year International. He is a regular contributor to National Geographic, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and TIME, among other international publications.
His first monograph, Discordia (2016), created in the shadow of the Arab Spring, reflects the fractured and ambiguous realities of revolution. His most recent book, Glad Tidings of Benevolence (2023), revisits two decades of war in Iraq, juxtaposing photographs with military dispatches, transcripts, and lists of the dead to interrogate the gap between official narratives and lived experience.
About Isabella Howard
Isabella Howard is the Cultural Manager for the photography cooperative, Magnum Photos. Based out of Magnum’s New York office, Isabella oversees the development, production, and placement of Magnum’s touring exhibitions and cultural programming across the Americas. Prior to joining Magnum Photos, Isabella organized exhibitions in Japan, Taiwan and the US for Anastasia Photo, a documentary and photojournalism gallery in New York.
About the Amelie A. Wallace Gallery
Formally dedicated on May 22, 1979, the Gallery is named for the late Amelie Alexanderson Wallace in recognition of her unflagging support of the College and her personal commitment to the arts at Old Westbury. The Gallery exhibits Contemporary art by emerging and mid-career artists, as well as works by faculty and students of the Visual Arts Department. Public programs designed to accompany exhibitions comprise lectures and discussions led by artists and curators, as well as live performances and video presentations.
Gallery Hours:
Mondays: 10 am – 7 pm
Tuesdays: 10 am – 1pm
Wednesdays: 9 am – 7pm
Thursdays: 10 am – 1pm
Fridays: 12pm – 4pm
And by appointment
Location:
Campus Center, Main Level
SUNY College at Old Westbury
Route 107, Old Westbury, NY 11568
Direction:
Long Island Expressway to exit 41N; 107N to the main gate of SUNY College at Old Westbury; turn left and follow
signs to Campus Center; go downstairs to Gallery on the main level. www.oldwestbury.edu.
Contact Info:
Director & Curator: Hyewon Yi, PhD
516-876-2709/3056
yih@oldwestbury.edu.