Bullets Have No Borders

“Bullets Have No Borders” is a long-term documentary project about Kurdish kolbars—border porters who carry goods across the Iran-Iraq mountains to support their families. In regions shaped by chronic unemployment, political pressure, and marginalisation, kolbari is often the only available source of income.

The project follows men and teenagers on night journeys through snow, fog, minefields, and militarised border zones, where they face armed patrols, falls, hypothermia, arrest, and death. Beyond the crossings, the work looks at waiting families, injured bodies, mourning, and the persistence of daily life under constant risk.

Photographed over nearly a decade with close access and long-term trust, the images reveal how an invisible economy operates through fear and endurance. At the same time, they show dignity, solidarity, and responsibility as forces that sustain individuals and communities.

“Bullets Have No Borders” asks how survival becomes criminalised—and what it means when international borders value goods more than human lives.

Ebrahim Alipoor

Ebrahim Alipoor was born in Kurdistan. Over many years, he has been looking for ways in which he can connect people. He chose photography as his main art form since he believed that in third-world countries such as Iran, influencing people with images is very powerful, although difficult. Therefore, he has been searching for ways in which he could connect and influence people in the most difficult circumstances, including governmental limitations and censorship.