Ordinary Lives Disrupted by War

Here is a compelling series of photographs by Brian Sokol for UNHCR published in Aljazeera. Images from Syria are more often than not, dominated by distressing images of violence, suffering, devastation and squalor. Such images assault the senses, create anger and outrage, and yet their subjects remain strangely impersonal and anonymous.  The present photographs,  on the other hand, simple and understated, are intensely personal.  The photographer by hiding background with a simple sheet forces you to look into the eyes of each of his subjects. In each a Syrian refugee shows the most important thing they took with them when fleeing from their homes. Each story told by these ordinary, dignified people is a heartbreaking revelation of a  life disrupted by conflict. These images will stay with you; now imagine these and similar stories repeated a million times. Such is the scale of the tragedy befalling the people of Syria.