THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

‘Hela Mansour…’. Salama repeated the name as if he were suddenly seized by some deep sorrow. He was quiet for a while and then continued, ‘She was the most beautiful girl in Sarmada. I can still remember how she turned every hed in the steet. Women would drag their children indoors and the old men would climb up to the roofs to get a look at her. The whole of Sarmada was smitten. We never thought they’d actually go through with it, but the look in her eyes told us we’d been wrong. She faced her death with her head held high.’

Azzam/Sarmada, 2011