Salwan Georges THE YACOUBS' JOURNEY

Born in Baghdad, Iraq, Salwan Georges spent six years of his childhood in a Christian Orthodox monastery outside of Damascus, Syria, before arriving as a teenager in the United States in 2004. As a refugee himself, Georges, who is a staff photographer at the Detroit Free Press, was perfectly poised to tell the story of the Yacoubs, a family of seven who arrived in Detroit last April as refugees from the Sudanese civil war.

Georges spent a month visiting with and photographing the Yacoubs. Though the family didn’t speak any English and the mother, the only adult, was a victim of domestic abuse, Georges was able to connect with them by conversing in Arabic and playing soccer with the boys. “They reminded me of Sudanese immigrants I had met in Syria,” Georges says.

Georges’ images and video, which first appeared in a multimedia presentation on the Detroit Free Press website, show in intimate detail the both the loneliness and beauty of the Yacoubs' burgeoning lives in the United States. “They’re not living in the best neighborhood, but they’re amazed by their new house, by the technology they’ve never experienced before,” he says. The project garnered Georges a number of awards, but even better, it has led to the Yacoub family making friends with other refugees. “That’s what makes me feel good, when a story has an impact, and changes lives a little bit.”

Capturing the plight of refugees has been Georges’ passion ever since the Islamic State killed his cousin in Baghdad in 2013. Currently, he is working on a long-term project about Iraqi refugees in the U.S., which he began under the mentorship of photographer Ed Kashi and New York Times editor James Estrin at the Anderson Ranch Art Center in Colorado. He was also recently hired as a staff photographer for The Washington Post.

—Brienne Walsh

Photos © Salwan Georges salwangeorges.com