sister-hood is an award-winning digital magazine spotlighting the diverse voices of women of Muslim heritage.
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Where is the “honour”?
I believe it’s important to educate others on what’s happening around the world, including so-called ‘honour’ crimes. My artwork is done using grey scale paint to represent how blind society can be to issues surrounding ‘honour’ killings. We know it’s happening but it’s easily ignored. I was honoured to take part in the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict. This allowed me to engage with other artists, delegates from around the world as well as celebrities who support women and children’s rights.
R.I.P to all those young girls and women whose lives have been taken in the name of ‘honour’
Cut
Torn
Ripped
And stripped
Upside down, her life was tipped
Beaten
Battered
Raped
And killed
An empty hole, which her body filled
Gun
Shot
To
Her
Head
In a pool of blood
She lay dead…
………………………………………………………………………..
Where’s the ‘honour’ in Killing?
Where is the honour
In killing?
The blood of beautiful
Girls spilling?
Being shot
Stabbed
Or strangled?
These beautiful girls
Being severely manhandled
And these ‘men’ justify the
Murders
By saying the girls
Stained their honour
And shamed the family name
By falling love?
Falling in love
Is something we take
For granted
And from this earth we
Live in
These beautiful girls
These innocent souls
Are
And have been
Forcefully departed…
………………………………………………………………………..
Du’aa Khalil Aswad
A heavy rock thrown
Upon my face
Showing the angry
Men’s disgrace
Here I lay in the
Middle of the road
My body screaming
But in silent mode
Stripped down
To my underwear
Uncomfortable as these
Murderous men stare
Fell in love
With a Muslim boy
Because of this
I was centre to a
Deathly ploy
One final block of
Concrete
Hit my head
I was free
Of the pain
And humiliation
I was finally
Dead…
Shina Saeed
I am originally from the Kurdish region in Iraq, and have a degree in Fine Art from London's well-known Central Saint Martin’s School of Art of Design. For the past eight years, my art and poetry have focused on the issue of so-called ‘honour killings’.