Great-grandmother’’s Tattoos, 2024

Digital illustration of my great grandmother using ProCreate on iPad Pro

This work is part of a series of illustrations based on a rare family photograph, the only surviving image of a relative bearing traditional Bedouin tattoos. Drawing on Saidiya Hartman’s concept of critical fabulation, the work blends archival absence with creative reconstruction to honour and reimagine erased histories.

The image explores Bedouin tattoo traditions, with a particular focus on those worn by my great-grandmother. My family originates from Raqqa in Northern Syria, part of a broader Bedouin network spanning Southwest Asia and North Africa. The term Bedouin, derived from the Arabic badawi (desert dweller), refers to Arab nomadic and semi-nomadic communities historically rooted in arid landscapes.

These tattoos were not merely decorative, they functioned as markers of tribal affiliation, social status, and rites of passage. Today, the tradition is lost due to the lasting impacts of colonization, religious repression, systemic discrimination, and ongoing processes of urbanization and cultural assimilation. Tattooed Bedouin women are often subject to shame or suspicion, and the practice has been largely erased from public memory.

Through a combination of archival research and critical fabulation, I produce illustrations that aim not for historical precision but for emotional and cultural resonance. Fabulation enables me to envision what has been lost or silenced, creating images that weave together memory, fiction, and speculative reconstruction.

Hands tattoos from the tribes and clans within my region of northern Syria. Digital illustration on iPad Pro using ProCreate.

21.0 x 29.7 cm

Great-grandmother portrait at age 102 taken by me, days before ISIS seized Raqqa city.

Tattooing among both men and women is an integral part of Bedouin culture, particularly among those living in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. Despite the religious prohibition against tattoos, many tribal Arabs choose to inscribe themselves on their face, ankles, wrists, and other body parts, in order to ward off evil forces, give the person wearing the tattoo strength, and to protect them in battle. Markings on the wrist, for example, were said to strengthen the person’s hand, enabling them to milk their livestock more easily. Some Bedouin tribes also believe that markings will cure them of ailments, and symbols such as dots on the side of the head or above their eyes are said to heal a person's aches and pains. 

While traditions vary among tribes, in some communities, a Bedouin girl's tattoos are chosen by her mother and are selected on the basis of a trait the parent would like to see in their child. For example, a dot on the nose means the hope of a long life for the child. The markings also serve as a system of tribal identification and it is possible for learned Bedouins to determine a person's tribe through the tattoos they have. In some cases, animals were also depicted in tattoos; for instance, the image of a gazelle would demonstrate grace and beauty.

A view from the exhibition Great-grandmother’s Tattoos at Sta. Demonia queer art gallery in Stockholm, 2024

Poster of the exhibition

This project was supported by: