by Ione Citrin

Artwork Description

Laila

0.0 x 0.0

18" high x 16" wide oil on paper This is what she looked like last year. You wouldn't want to see what she looks like today. She fell in love with the wrong man, a man her family didn't approve of...a Jew...a married Jew...a black Jew. She stayed with him against her family's wishes and threats. Finally one night her brothers, Jamal and Ahmed, came and got her at gunpoint, took her away from her forbidden lover and cut her ears and nose off. She lay bleeding on the dirt road. Eventually she was discovered and brought to the local doctor. He did what he could and sent her home. Terrible infections followed, but the village she lived in was in a remote mountainous area far from any sophisticated medical services. Her mother did her best, but Laila needed sophisticated care. Unbelievably she lived, her outside and insides severely damaged. She stayed in the shack with her family; there was nothing else she could do. Her brothers suffered no remorse; they were righteous in their attack. Her parents never mentioned it and her mother hide all mirrors from her. Her former lover moved to Israel, afraid to ever contact her again. Islamic law rules.

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