I left Iraq in 1991 and arrived in London after traveling through many countries. I wrote often to members of my family still in Iraq, asking them to send me a copy of my university degree, my collection of stamps and old Iraqi coins, and a few of my drawings from secondary school. After waiting for years, my stamp collection arrived along with my coins and drawings, but I still haven’t received a copy of my degree. Why did I ask for these things in particular? What is important about a bag full of stamps and coins and the envelope of drawings? I don’t know. But I do know that as soon as I received these things, I looked through them very quickly and then put them to one side, just the way they arrived. When I was asked to participate in this exhibition, I said ‘ what have I brought with me from Iraq, but nightmares?” They said ‘ well write them down.’ But I can’t do it. Then I remembered what I’d tried so hard to get sent to me from Iraq and couldn’t – my degree.

SAAD ZANGANA, electrical engineer, born 1956, in London since 1991