"Painting - more than eating or breathing for me"
Daily life in Qushtapa refugee camp, in Erbil governorate, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I) is never easy. But Syrian father of four, Islam Muhammad Botanee, uses painting as a way of expressing his individuality as well as depicting the experiences and challenges of what it is like to be a refugee.
Islam Muhammad Botanee is a self-taught painter. His images are haunting, often dark and painful.
While he continues to look for daily work to feed his family, he is also a man driven by his need to paint every day, if he can.
"Through my painting, I want to express that I am alive here; I'm an active person, I am still doing something ", he said. "I can relax when I paint; it is more than eating or breathing for me. 
Islam Muhammad Botanee
The 45 year-old father of four, who left Malkiaa, in Hassakeh governorate, Syria, three years ago, is finding refugee life difficult. Back home, he worked as a carpenter and had his own shop. But he complains that there is no market for hand crafted furniture in Erbil, with most of it imported from Turkey, and he can only find casual construction work or temporary work, for example as a camp monitor during a recent garbage clean-up.
Painting is his way of dealing with all the pressures.
Islam paints in a small shelter next to his family's tent in the camp, as the smells of his oil paints are quite strong. The first public exhibition of his paintings was at a UNHCR-supported event marking International Women's Day. And Islam was excited to show his work to the public.
Many of Islam's works have as their theme violence against women and children. One refers to Yazidi women who were sold in slave markets by extremist groups. Another highlights domestic violence in the camp. 
women sold at slave markets
Another group of paintings have as their subject attempts by refugees to make the risky journey by sea to Europe, paying illegal smugglers money to try to start another life.
"I like to use painting to show how difficult life is for refugees. I want to show the challenges that refugees face inside the camp", said the artist. "I'm also trying to do something to change's peoples minds in this camp community, like tackling gender-based violence, illegal immigration and other problems facing the community."
Elderly woman left on her own, after her family left for Europe
His dream is to be known more widely and to formally study painting somewhere in Europe. His artistic hero is Picasso.
A fire at Qushtapa camp which resulted in the deaths of two adults and two children.
"I would love to be a famous painter", he mused. "But, in any case, I cannot stop painting; I have no choice. I have to paint ."
The artist's materialsPhotos: UNHCR/Caroline Gluck
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