February 5, 2023

“The art of body ink (Deq) has a long history in Kurdish culture. Thankfully, this tradition has faded a bit and, in some places, has disappeared entirely. Nowadays, people get it done as tattoos, it doesn’t cause as much pain, and it’s done more exquisitely than before. They ink themselves with devices today, not by hand like in the past. In the early 70s, they inked this Deq for me. For a woman like me, this was beautiful back then and would attract the sights of those gazing at me. I did not have the same mindset back then as I do now. Honestly, I regret it a lot, but I still have kept it because of how painful it is to remove it. Besides, it leaves ugly marks, so I don’t know what to do with it.”