In the 1950s and 60s, the photographer Latif Al Ani sought to highlight the rich and glorious history of Iraq, a nation that is part of the Fertile Crescent, a region also called the “cradle of civilization.” A professional photographer for Iraq Petroleum Company’s magazine Ahl al-Naft (People of the Oil), and later the head of photography at the Iraqi News agency, Al Ani captured Iraq’s ancient ruins and monuments alongside the ever-encroaching symbols of modernity. In one photo, for instance, two Western-attired tourists stand in front of the ruins of the Tāq Kasrā, where a street musician plays the rebab (a traditional Arabic instrument). In another, a shepherd tends his flock against the backdrop of an ancient palace, while two automobiles are parked nearby. Known today as the “father of Iraqi photography,” Al Ani, who died in 2021, once claimed, “The past is mine, not the future. That is for others.” —Paulina Prosnitz