Giving Compass' Take:

· In this article by GOOD Magazine, Liz Ohanesian talks with photographer Jim Lommasson about his ongoing project of telling the stories of refugees through photographing their possessions.

· How do photos of possessions tell the stories of refugees?

· Read these 12 powerful refugee stories from around the world.

Photographer Jim Lommasson had been struggling with a project for six months.

He was taking portraits of refugees at their homes in the U.S., intending to create something similar to his photography/oral history collection, “Exit Wounds: Soldiers’ Stories — Life After Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Something, however, wasn’t working.

Then a woman told him about the items that she had been able to bring with her from Iraq: a family portrait and a Koran. She asked Lommasson to make a copy of the portrait. He obliged, made an extra print, and asked her to write why she brought those items.

“What We Carried: Fragments & Memories from Iraq & Syria” was born.

Lommasson’s ongoing project began in Portland, Oregon, where the photographer is based, but he has since interviewed refugees in various cities across the country. The accompanying photography exhibition has also traveled far, from Boston to Lincoln, Nebraska, to Los Angeles.

“Everybody wants the same thing. We all want safety. We all want a roof over our heads. We want our kids to get an education and want to buy ice cream cones for our kids. Those things are all universal,” says Lommasson.

Read the full article about telling the stories of refugees through photography by Liz Ohanesian at GOOD Magazine.