Documentary photographer and photojournalist Kael Alford gives a lecture in the Greer Garson Theatre on Wednesday. (Spencer J Eggers/The Daily Campus)

Visiting artist and professor Kael Alford gave a visiting artist lecture in Meadow’s School of the Arts on Wednesday night.

She presented her photographs and spoke on her many experiences as a photojournalist in Iraq. She also spoke about her new project in Louisiana.

The first half of the lecture was about her time spent in Iraq.

Alford showed her photographs from her longest stay in the country from 2003-2004, when she was in Iraq during the initial United States invasion.

She then showed pictures from her most recent trip to Iraq this past summer.

The new pictures compared Iraq from 2003 to now.

On both trips she gained the trust of the Iraqi people and had a front row seat in to their lives.

She spent time with Iraqi insurgents, taking photographs of them with heavy weaponry. She has also tried to focus on life for Iraqi woman, telling very honest stories about life for women in Iraq.

She explained that the assumption in America is that life after the U.S. invasion is better for Iraqi’s, especially for women, but that is definitely not the case. It is a very corrupt and dangerous country.

“Honestly, I would rather live in Iraq under Saddam Hussein’s

regime than how the country is today,” Alford said.

Alford spent the second half of her lecture presenting her latest project, “Bottom of ‘Da Boot: Land Loss and Oil on Louisiana’s Coast” about the disappearing coastline in Louisiana.

She has spent time with some of the locals, including the Native American tribes in the area, and explained that their land is literally disappearing into the ocean with each new hurricane and through the intensive oil drilling.

Alford’s photos accurately explain the stories she wants to tell, bringing the truth to situations that are not being talked about honestly, or at all.