Great-grandmother’s Tattoos (Work in progress), 2024

This exhibition explores Bedouin tattoos, particularly those worn by the artist's great-grandmother. The Bedouins in Syria, especially in the region of Raqqa, are part of a broader Bedouin culture that spans Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA). The term "Bedouin" (from the Arabic "badawī," meaning "desert dweller") refers to nomadic or semi-nomadic Arab tribes traditionally living in desert regions. These tattoos serve not merely as a form of personal adornment but also as symbols of tribal affiliation, social status, and rites of passage.

Within Alhamad’s clan and the broader Arab Bedouin culture, this tattoo tradition has largely faded due to the impacts of Western colonization, religious prohibitions, social discrimination, and the forces of modernization, urbanization, and sedentarization. Through a series of illustrations derived from family archives that showcase these tattoos, Alhamad seeks not only to document this disappearing cultural practice but also to actively resist its erasure, preserving a vital aspect of Arab Bedouin heritage

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

Digital illustration of my great grandmother using ProCreate on iPad Pro

Poster of the exhibition