During the Gulf War in 1991, through long nights of relentless bombing and the disappearance of all amenities, Iraqi artist Nuha al-Radi began keeping a diary from her Baghdad home. In it, she captures scenes of surreal intensity as birds fly upside down, citizens feast royally on food about to spoil and randy dogs receive fan letters thanks to CNN. The diaries continue throughout the ensuing bleak years under sanctions, depicting the difficulties of day-to-day survival but also the funny and macabre goings-on about town. Her entries continue into exile and end in November 2002. Al-Radi records the transformation of a country where only a few years earlier the main problem facing Iraqi children had been obesity; but what emanates most vibrantly from these personal tales is the spirit of endurance and a celebration of the smallest of life's joys.
