Photographer witnessing the fall of ISIS

Istanbul. Washington. Bohermeen. The three places Ivor Prickett spends his time. Based out of Istanbul, the award-winning photographer spoke to Inspire from Washington where he is visiting his partner, and when he can, gets home to Bohermeen, where his parents, Sue and Dave live at Durhamstown Castle.
This year, the 35 year-old was named winner of the Stories Category at the World Press Photographer of the Year Awards, for his work in Iraq for the New York Times. 
Two photographs from his work 'The Battle for Mosul', reproduced here, were also nominated for the single photo award.
The photographs were taken in January 2017, with Iraqi Special Forces soldiers surveying the aftermath of an attack by an ISIS suicide car bomber in the Andalus neighbourhood, one of the last areas to be liberated in eastern Mosul.
“It has been a busy year with that project,” Ivor says. “The World Press exhibition goes around the world, so there were a lot of obligations with that. Then it was part of a travelling exhibition organised by the New York Times, called 'Hard Truths' which had been in different cities in Europe throughout the year, and I had been attending and speaking at those, in between different work assignments.”

 

Most of his work this year has been in the Middle East, where with fighting over, a lot of aftermath rebuilding stories are to be done.
“That was early in year, then there was an election in May/June in Baghdad, so I was down south in Iraq, then more Syria. Iraq more is strangely more secure quiet than has been in a long time, but there is still a threat from ISIS,” he says. “Still random attacks from Isis affiliates in hiding, but a lot less than it has been, the people are saying. A lot of work to be done to rebuild, not just after war with Isis, but after everything that has gone on over the last 15 years. Finally, there a bit more security and peace, not as much constant fighting and bombings going on – there's a new government and a bit of hope in that.”
In Syria, he has been spending time in the eastern part of the country, controlled by the Kurds, “a totally different entity than the government-controlled areas where I cannot go”.
“ But it's relatively secure compared to other parts of the country, and compared to a couple of years ago when ISIS were there. There's still stuff going on, with Isis elements further down south being targeted by them and the American coalition. It's relatively safe but you have to take a lot of care when going into these areas.”

 

Born in Fermoy, Co Cork, the Pricketts arrived in Bohermeen when Ivor was about 11. He attended St Patrick's Classical School in Navan, then King’s Hospital where he did his Leaving Certificate and started to become interested in photography. Sister, Cleo, is a fashion designer who launched a new collection this year, having returned from London.
Ivor dug out the 35-millimetre camera his mother had used for an art project, and Sue showed her son the basics of light metre reading and aperture. He spent a year building up a portfolio at Sallynoggin College for a diploma in photography, and then went on to Newport College in Wales to study for a BA in documentary photography.
Developing an interest in conflict and its humanitarian aftermath, the plight of the Serbian Croats after the break-up of Yugoslavia first caught his attention. He went to Mosul in Iraq as a freelancer in 2016, and was soon picked up by the New York Times.
Last month, he was in Germany, finishing off work on a collection of his photographs that are to be published by leading publisher Steidl.
“I'm very excited about that,” he says. “It’s called ‘End of the Caliphate’ and is a collection of my work from Iraq and Syria over the past two years charting the fall of ISIS.”

 

(First published Inspire magazine, Meath Chronicle, December 2018)