The Women of Mosul

Women faced violence and subjugation under the ISIS occupation. Laws were weighted against women: their freedom of expression, thought, and movement.  

The ISIS “manifesto” declared that girls could be married from the age of nine and that women should remain “hidden”. The enslavement of women and girls was used as a recruitment incentive; they were treated as objects and distributed among ISIS fighters as spoils of war.   

The realities of this life for Maslawi women in ISIS-occupied Mosul were harsh and cruel, upheld by a significant and sustained campaign of violence.  

Thus, the denial of their freedom of expression by ISIS control and subjugation could not destroy the beauty and diversity of Maslawi women. Woman, with her strong and direct gaze, is now witness to the rebirth of freedom and liberty.  

The crow perched on the woman’s shoulder is symbolic of the subjugation and control by ISIS of the Maslawi population. The multicoloured palette is joyful and defiant. ISIS banned colourful clothing, prescribing black as the only suitable sartorial colour within the city. The dress is seemingly made of fish scales, this is perhaps a reference to the story of Jonah and the Whale, from Mosul’s Temple of Jonah. The whale has become a symbol of resistance and salvation within Mosul after the temple was destroyed by ISIS in an act of archaeological terrorism in 2014. The woman adopts a provocative stance, with her strong, direct gaze.  Her shock of hair denotes diversity and multitude. There are tribes with flame-red hair across Northern Iraq denoting the great variety and diversity of ethnicities within Mosul before ISIS occupied the city.