Who is Gecko-girl ?

A friend of mine used the Cairo Metro by the beginning of July, when a female passenger started preaching loudly that people should pray to God and respect their parents. She went on explaining that: “A lady in Oman was reciting the Koran while her daughter is watching a musical channel on TV, the mother asked the daughter to turn it off. Angrily the girl threw the holy book, and then God immediately turned her into a lizard.”

Another female passenger questioned this preacher; she asked her where did she get the information? The preacher confirmed that it was discussed on all satellite channels and they also showed the picture of the lizard woman. Then the passenger insisted by saying I am watching TV all the time but I never saw a single news about a woman transferred into a lizard, so where exactly did you see that?? The passenger’s station had arrived so she walked out of the train; as soon as the door closed the Preacher went on saying do you see she does not watch the right channels, remember…. Then my friend’s station had arrived. On the station platform she heard 3 girls seriously discussing what this “preacher” was saying on the train; One was saying you know all what she said was true but the girl turned into a monkey not a lizard??!!!!!!

It seems that this rumor was very well spread; it reached Somalia, Sudan, Iran, and Afghanistan.

How did all that start? It turned out that the above picture is a cropped image from the sculpture The Leather Landscape by the Australian artist Patricia Piccinini. The sculpture is part of the We Are Family exhibition that was a big hit at the Venice Biennale in 2003. http://patriciapiccinini.net/