The Grand Baghdad hotel, in downtown Sulaymaniyah, is far from the splendor that its name bears. Its corridors and rooms are now the shelter of Iraqi and Yazidis families that were fortunate enough to escape ISIS, but still struggle in their everyday life as refugees in the city. Those who are able to work are now cigarette-sellers, shoe-shiners and street vendors that crowd the streets and alleys around the bazaar, the elder ones left waiting in the small hotel rooms that now became their home. Aram Karim tells the story of the refugees that live at the Grand Baghdad and Babosi Hotel, offering an intimate glimpse inside these people daily life and struggles.
17/12/14 -- Sulaimaniyah, Iraq -- Daham Faiaq 12, yo. refugee from Kobane, Syrian Kurdistan. He lives in Babusi Hotel with his family. Daham and his father work on the streets as shoeshiners.
17/12/14 -- Sulaimaniyah, Iraq -- Daham Faiaq 12, yo. refugee from Kobane, Syrian Kurdistan. He lives in Babusi Hotel with his family. Daham and his father work on the streets as shoeshiners.
17/12/14 -- Sulaimaniyah, Iraq -- Daham Faiaq 12, yo. refugee from Kobane, Syrian Kurdistan. He lives in Babusi Hotel with his family. Daham and his father work on the streets as shoeshiners.
Daham has to go to work after lunch.
17/12/14 -- Sulaimaniyah, Iraq -- Daham Faiaq 12, yo. refugee from Kobane, Syrian Kurdistan. He lives in Babusi Hotel with his family. Daham and his father work on the streets as shoeshiners.
Daham has to go to work after lunch.
20/12/14 -- Sulaimaniyah, Iraq -- A family of displaced Iraqis from Salahadin at Babusi Hotel.
22/12/14 -- Sulaimaniyah, Iraq -- A view of As Haba Spi and Kawa Street, downtown Sulaimaniyah.
26/12/14 -- Sulaimaniyah, Iraq -- Muaiad 10, yo. A Syarian refugee from Kubane. He broke his leg, and after having it fixed in a cast, the family run out of money to go to the hospital and further treat it.
22/01/15 -- Sulaimaniyah, Iraq -- A young displaced girl cleans the toilet at Babusi Hotel, As Haba Spi, downtown Sulaimaniyah.
07/02/15 -- Sulaimaniyah, Iraq -- The room of Utto and Khaled, from Shingal. They live together here, and work in the streets selling cigarettes.
07/02/15 -- Sulaimaniyah, Iraq -- Abu Dilshad and his family in their room at the Baghdad Hotel. Abu Dilshad arrived from Shingal with his wife, his two boys and older members of the family, including his father and mother. He works at the reception of the hotel.
08/02/15 -- Sulaimaniyah, Iraq -- The cigarettes that Atto, 19, from Shingal, sells on the streets of Sulaimaniyah to pay his rent at the Baghdad Hotel.
08/02/15 -- Sulaimaniyah, Iraq -- Khaled, 16, from Shingal, lives at the Baghdad Hotel with his brother Utto who is 32. Together they sell cigarettes to pay the rent.
08/02/15 -- Sulaimaniyah, Iraq -- Utto 32, from Shingal, in his room at the Baghdad Hotel. His family is in Duhok. He is working in Sulaimaniyah to support his family. His mother is very sick, but he cannot afford to go see her, as he hardly can stop working on the streets where he sells cigarettes with his younger brother Khaled.
08/02/15 -- Sulaimaniyah, Iraq -- Abu Qasim, a 90 y.o. a Yazidi man from Shingal.
08/02/15 -- Sulaimaniyah, Iraq -- A drawing of Anas, from Kobani, picturing unknown fighters shooting at people in the mountains. It was impossible to understand whether this scene was experienced by the child or whether he has seen in on TV.