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Nelson takes us inside two of Baghdad’s social clubs, the Hunting club and the Alwiyah club. Clubs like these act as an escape from daily living in the so-called post-war Iraq. Originally only accessible to the elite Baath party, they are now open to anyone who can afford the $600 annual membership. 

 

Although the clubs are still beyond the means of most Iraqis, these images reveal the existence of a quieter side of life. They offer a break from the continuous graphic imagery of war and chaos that is echoed through our mainstream media’s news coverage. But I hope they do more than just offer us some relief. I suspect they destroy the stereotype, or single dimensional perspective of the war that is portrayed in the media. These images show us a complex society that is rapidly stratifying, and portray people who are not dissimilar to ourselves. In short, they normalise and humanise a situation that is portrayed, for government and business interests, as otherwise.