"My object is something I inherited rather than something I brought from Iraq, so it made the journey here before me. By inherited I mean borrowed it and never gave it back. I was told the story about it afterwards, so I carried that story with me. I don’t think I am particularly superstitious, but I have lost it a few times, and then I luckily found it. I found losing it, or the prospect of permanently losing it, very painful. That is how sentimental it has become to me. It has become a part of me. It is with me almost all the time and like what Shezza said about the journey, I feel I am part of its journey, because it has made its journey over here before me and I am continuing with it and I take it to my journeys as well.

My mum (Nedal) got this ring while on a trip to Baghdad shortly before she came here. There’s a picture I happened to find that we worked out is probably around the time that she bought this ring, and it’s of her and her friend in Baghdad in the late 1970’s.

One of the things I just realized while making these drawings is the inside of it and how that feels. This drawing shows the unrolled width of the thing with several layers. I was trying to represent that smoothness on the inside and the ridges and indentations on the outside."
Rayya