Iraq’s teenage artist in novel protest of inking tattoos

BAGHDAD: At 16, Maram is as old as the political system she and fellow Iraqi youth are railing against. But the spunky teen has her own way of protesting: inking tattoos. In the blue-tinged light inside a tarp tent, the petite teenager carefully moves her mechanised tattoo pen across the left shoulder of her skinny teenage friend. It’s a sketch of Baghdad’s Freedom Monument — a huge stone and bronze slab charting Iraq’s path to a republic on Tahrir Square, the beating heart of Iraq’s anti-government protests. Its centrepiece is a dark figure with arms outstretched, wrenching apart a barrier. “I like to break down barriers,” Maram Uday says, after filling in the miniature black version on her friend’s bare shoulder.

“It’s not easy for people to accept this. Girls who tattoo typically work only in salons and on other girls,” says Maram, who wears thick black eyeliner and a short, dramatic bob. “But I decided to leave behind the traditional because change is necessary.” The fine arts student and amateur model began tattooing eight months ago as a way to make some extra money. She joined the protests against government corruption and a lack of jobs in October and was so moved she drew a permanent memento on her left wrist. It reads “OCT 25,” the date a second, continuous wave of demonstrations erupted in Baghdad.— AFP