Kicki Lundgren - Memories from the faraway mountains

In the early 1980s I got to know an elderly Kurdish woman. She told
me about her life in a small village in northern Kurdistan. Her family
were farmers and lived under basic conditions. This reminded me
very much of what my grandmother told me about her life in a village
in Västerbotten in Sweden. Could this be true? Are we so alike
despite the great distance?

The first time that I went to the Kurdish parts of Turkey was in 1991
and it was certainly similar to what I had heard about Sweden in the
old days. What struck me most, however, was people’s closeness to
nature and also to each other. Here in Sweden you put a blanket on
the ground before you sit down. In the small mountain village we lay
down directly on the earth when we needed a rest, with the scent of
oregano and thyme in our noses.

The small village lacked electricity and water. If you wanted to
shower, you had to go up in the mountains to collect wood for a fire.
Then you sat in a tub and poured the warm water over you. The
villagers lived off their animals – cows, sheep and chickens. In the
fields they grew wheat and barley. The diet largely consisted of
bread, yoghurt, eggs and a kind of dried cheese. When there was a
wedding, funeral or other special occasion they slaughtered a lamb.

I came to travel several times to other villages in the Kurdish
speaking parts of Turkey and I’ll never forget the reception I received
on my second visit to the small village. When I arrived early in
the morning after a 12-hour bus journey, I suddenly found myself
standing there with kisses from the whole village on my cheeks.

The pictures were taken between 1991 and 2007 in different
villages in northern Kurdistan.
Many thanks to all the people that agreed to be photographed
Thanks also to the Swedish Author’s Fund, Patric Leo, Maria
Morris, Reso Zilan, Eva Lie, Dogan, Alan and Dilan.