Demir Sönmez, one of the leading photographers in Geneva, has opened an exhibition at Saint Gervais Theater Center in Geneva. The photographs shown have been taken during his visit to Southern Kurdistan between 2016-2017 and the exhibition has been titled “In the Eyes of Demir”.

The photographs are a journey through the Kurdistan Independence Referendum in South Kurdistan and the Makhmur camp. Together with the photographs, there are also paintings by Adar Tung from Makhmur Cultural Center.

Every photograph taken at Makhmur and the work of refugee Adar Tung on women reveal how an alternative life was built in a context of extraordinary circumstances with very little possibilities, following the philosophy of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan.

All proceeds of the exhibition, which will stay open until 16 June, will be sent to Makhmur Cultural Center.

Photographer Demir Sönmez, speaking about the exhibition, said that he tried to show how an alternative life was being set up in Maxmur against all odds.

“An alternative system - he said - was set up in Makhmur despite this camp has been frequently exposed to attack by the Turkish state or DAESH”. Sönmez said his purpose was to make life in Makhmur visible.

The photographer added: “Makhmur is known to be a refugee camp. Nevertheless I have been able to see there how a new system of life came into being. A way of life which cannot be seen in any part of the world”.

Sönmez said that he “wanted to show both the existence of the democratic system in Makhmur and how life developed and go by there”.

Sönmez stated that resistance and alternative life, the way it is being practiced in Kurdistan should actually be used to set up similar alternatives in other contexts. "Everyone who visits this exhibition is confused by the oil paintings of Adar Tung who is only 20 years old. This is important to me because we have thousands of Adar in Kurdistan. What is important is that we should be working to make them visible and to make visible the hidden lives in Kurdistan”.