A CITY’S MEMORY PRESERVED: One man has dedicated himself to archiving photos of Suq Al Shuyukh

By Murtadha al-Hudoud in Dhi Qar 

There are nearly 25,000 photographs in the archive he has collected over years provide a lively record of his city, Suq Al Shuyukh.

Awn al-Samaihi, 50, has carefully gathered pictures since the 1990s, spanning a wide variety of topics, including of birthdays, funerals, various local celebrations and buildings.

The oldest picture he has of Suq Al Shuyukh, a city in the province of Dhi Qar, dates back to 1916 and shows a Kurdish delegation visiting the city. Al-Samaihi also possesses another archive of “glass negatives” from the 1930s and 1940s, which he carefully preserves.

Al-Samaihi says he has a passion to preserve and share these images with the public. In order to do so, he’s devoted a room in his own home to keep the archive of pictures, which he considers important evidence of the city’s evolution through various periods of Iraqi history.

Local writer Fahim al-Afrit, an associate of al-Samaihi’s, describes Suq Al Shuyukh as a vibrant hub of culture, art and history. For example, Suq Al Shuyukh is the birthplace of the Iraqi poet known as Abu Muayshi, whose works embody the city’s identity and traditions.

Al-Afrit praises al-Samaihi’s archival initiative and argues that its more important than just a hobby. Al-Samaihi himself has tried to persuade local authorities to establish a dedicated museum for his archive in the city in, for example, a dedicated photographic museum.

Around a year ago, the “Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Iraq” was published. It contains 600 documentary photos of Iraq, representing various stages in the country’s history.  The Iraqi Media Network, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Iraq, the Iraqi Banks’ League, and the Community Initiatives Fund (Tamkeen), supported the edition and it took about three years to complete.

Collaborating with local photographers such as Diyab Dali, Jihad al-Atabi, and Abdulilah al-Baldawi, al-Samaihi ensures that his archival efforts continue to expand. He has digitized his vast collection to protect it from potential loss, supplementing this with large scale prints mounted on wooden boards for broader public display.

In addition to his archive, al-Samaihi actively engages with cultural forums and social media platforms. Through his Facebook page, Suq Al-Shuyukh Without Colours, he shares photos and narratives from his collection. This has attracted over 38,000 followers on Facebook who are interested in history and heritage.

Al-Samaihi hopes that his photographic archive will continue to interest people and that it might even offer inspiration for modern Iraqi communities striving for a brighter future.