Tree Trunk House
22.5"x30"
Graphite, Digital Image Transfer
2010

Excerpt from accompanying story: The tradition was to stretch a bed sheet over the head of the person with nazar and do the procedure, but because I was too scared of getting singed by a crazy piece of hot lead, I wrapped myself around in sheets and thick blankets, waiting for my grandmother to come into the room. Not everyone was allowed to pour lead for nazar. In order to be qualified to execute it, my grandmother had to “take hand” from her mother, who got the gift from her own mother and so on. “Taking hand” was not an easy thing to do. It meant that my great-grandmother saw signs of mystical intuition in my grandmother that made her suitable for the job. My mother, however, couldn’t “take hand” for lead pouring from my grandmother. She actually didn’t pass it onto anyone. I don’t know if it was because of the low level of intuition in the women of the Tree Trunk House or because she was waiting for me to grow up.