Page - 131 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/01

The Tattoos of Armenian Genocide Survivors | 131www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/1, 123–143 large crosses and her wrists are bordered by an edging consisting of small designs.28 The Armenian woman in figure 2 and the Solubba29 woman in figure 3 dis- play very similar tattoos. Both women are tattooed with a line along the chin and neck, which is called ṣadr and consists of dots and crescents. The woman in figure 4 has a design on her forehead that matches exactly the one seen on the Solubba woman in figure 3. As in figure 3, in figure 4 too the design consists of three dots, a reverse V, and another dot on top. Additionally, a comparison with figure 5 shows strong similarities. The latter image is of a woman belonging to the Schammar.30 Both women have three dots tattooed on their cheeks, though on the opposite sides of their faces. The designs on their chins are also very similar: in the center, starting beneath the mouth, is a line with two dots to the left and to the right, terminating in a reverse V. In figure 6, the tattooed hand of Jeghsa Hairabedian, an Armeni- an woman, is visible. We know that her tattooists were Kurds.31 Her marks resemble the hands depicted in figure 7: on her wrist, we see an extensive 28 See fig. 6. 29 The Solubba were nomads living mainly on the Arabian Peninsula. See Betts 1989. 30 According to Field, the Schammar are Bedouins, that is, Arabs. See Field 1958, 13. 31 Jinks 2018, 121. Fig. 7: Depiction of the tattoos of Yazidi women (© Henry Field (1958), figure 4) Fig. 6: Jeghsa Hairabedian, from Adiaman. (© Nubarian Library collection, http://www. genocide-museum.am/eng/online_exhibition_2. php [accessed 9 January 2021])