Jamal Penjweny’s new project Pink Dream “ are black-and-white photographs on to which I have scribbled bright and rosy drawings,” he says. “The original images speak of sadness and loss, but my additions elevate them, telling the viewer to read instead a message of hope.” He chose to make his embellishments pink because “when I thought of a colour to represent peace and happiness, I could see only one – and that was pink”.

The photographs were taken at different times and in different places all over Iraq. “These are ordinary people living in the midst of war: in Amarah, Baghdad, Basra and Kurdistan. When I meet people, I talk to them: I want to interpret their dreams, dreams they don’t even dare to express sometimes. When you have hope, what seems impossible becomes possible. It’s about believing in that which you cannot see with your eyes. When I was a little boy, working as a shepherd in Kurdistan’s mountains, no one believed I would ever reach places like London and America. But I did. My dreams brought me there.”

— excerpts from Jamal’s interview with The Guardian