by Lindsey Yoneda
When Yazidi refugees arrive in Lincoln, they carry few things with them from the Iraqi homeland they fled. But what they are able to bring here hold cherished stories and memories.
Those special pieces of home are what photographer and oral historian Jim Lommasson documented as part of “What We Carried: The Yazidis of Lincoln, Nebraska,” on display until May 25 at the Nebraska History Museum. Lommasson unveiled the exhibit during a presentation on Jan. 26 at the museum.
The Lincoln exhibit is part of Lommasson’s ongoing “What We Carried,” a collaborative photographic storytelling project. It presents the experiences of refugees by focusing on the items they brought with them on their journey to the U.S.
The Portland native began “What We Carried” in 2007 when he was interviewing and photographing American soldiers for his book “Exit Wounds: Soldiers’ Stories — Life after Iraq and Afghanistan.” Searching for Afghan and Iraqi perspectives on the war, he began interviewing refugees and discovered the possessions they chose to bring with them told a powerful story of what they also left behind.
Lommasson began collaborating with refugees by photographing their objects. He would then return the 13-by-19-inch print to the owner and ask them to write their thoughts or experiences directly on the image.
Lommasson first came to Lincoln in 2017 after some images from “What We Carried” were included in a group exhibition, “Conflict and Consequence: Photographing War and its Aftermath,” at the Sheldon Museum of Art. Todd Tubutis, the curator of the Sheldon’s exhibition, told Lommasson about Lincoln’s large Yazidi refugee population, and Lommasson quickly got to work.
After several trips to Lincoln and mailing photographs back and forth, the Lincoln edition of “What We Carried” slowly but surely came together to share the stories of Lincoln’s New Americans.
The project will be on view at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha from June 5-30, overlapping with Omaha World Refugee Day on June 16. In May through September 2019, pieces of Lommasson’s entire “What We Carried” project, including images from Lincoln’s Yazidis, will travel to the Ellis Island Immigration Museum in New York City. The exhibit is expected to draw half a million visitors.
*This story is the first part of a multimedia project led by CoJMC students in the Nebraska Mosaic class. To view the complete project, photos and videos, visit https://nebraskamosaic.atavist.com/painting-a-new-picture.