The Other’s Others

Conceptual photography series by Rasha Al Shaar

            “Orientalism” is a way of looking at the differences between Arabs and their culture and the Western countries such as Europe and the United States of America. During the European Enlightenment and colonization of the Arab World, when “Orientalism” came about, it was artistically depicted with imagery that emphasizes, exaggerates and distorts reality of the Arab word in order to portray it as a world that is so different or unusual. This act or perspective is described as “othering”. “Othering” is when characteristics are fixed to a certain group of people that are different. I related this movement in history to modern day human behavior and judgment in the Arab world internally. My final artwork represents this concept of “othering” from a different perspective. Rather than “othering” a society or culture outside of your own in order to compare the two, I portrayed the “others” within my Kuwaiti community that has been labeled as “the other” by the West. With my conceptual photographic series, “The Other’s Other”, I show the different “others” within the Kuwaiti society specifically in regard to marriage or romantic relations.

            Although I believe that “Othering” and “Orientalism” lead to several negative misconceptions and stereotypes that were far from the realities of the Arab world, I believe that “othering” is a great example of natural human behavior. As an Arab, learning about Orientalism in history was upsetting, as it explains a lot of current misconceptions, it also puts several different acts of “othering” into perspective, both in religious or secular settings. Technically, “othering” is something we do everyday. As human beings, it is in our nature to judge what we see that is different than what we perceive as acceptable or normal. What usually happens when we see or perceive something of this sort is we tent to share, and when we tend to share we tend to exaggerate in order to tell an interesting or persuasive story. A discipline that they do this often in is advertising. Similarly, in the history of “Orientalism”, French entrepreneurs advertised the region through the production of postcards. Although they were meant to depict women in their every day lives, the scenes were set up in a studio. This form of advertising or propaganda that circulated France were published in Malek Alloula’s book, The Colonial Harem. As a Creative Advertising student with a love for psychology and human behavior, this was very interesting to me.

            As a student in the Visual Communications department, the effect that visuals have and the messages that they communicate attracted me to the visual representation of the Arab world in “Orientalism”. What pushed this interest further was my interest in human behavior, which is evident in most of my social awareness campaigns that aim to make a positive change in the community regarding both social and psychological issues. Lastly, the fact that I am an amateur conceptual photographer, I was motivated to show a different perspective to “othering” using the same exaggeration that is evident in my personal artistic style.

            “The Other’s Other” is a piece that looks at one community and shows that even in an Arab community, which is labeled the “other” among many other countries in the region, in one community itself there are many “others”. The same way the region was looked at and judged in a specific way for its differences, I decided to look at those sub groups of different or judged people in Kuwait. So I asked myself, what topic or situation is there the most controversy in Kuwait that leads to judgment and forming subgroups that go against the norm from the older generation, in this case “the others”. This led me to the concept of relationships/ marriage. As a Lebanese Kuwaiti born in Thailand with some Saudi Arabian, Egyptian, and Palestinian heritage, I never felt like I belonged to one country, nationality, or mentality. Growing up in Kuwait I witnessed how the traditional mentality lead to expectations and criteria that society needs to follow in order to be accepted by “the rest” (or those who have not been “othered”). I thought that it would be interesting to portray the most common different or unacceptable decisions that go against the norm regarding marriage or relationships that separates our community. This piece shows the reasons people are excluded and indirectly labeled as the “other” when it comes to marriage, and the different ways “the rest” of the Kuwaiti community judge them.

            Considering the visual style of “Orientalism” as well as my personal style in the arts, “The Other’s Other” photography series plays with exaggeration in its social satire or commentary on the Kuwaiti society to communicate a strong message about “othering”. The photographs were taken with a Canon D550 outdoors with natural light in a secluded and isolated area. Another consistent theme of my creative work other than exaggeration that I felt fit this project well is the use of mixed media, or specifically the use of text and image. After shooting, I added the layer of text into the images using Adobe Illustrator. Each sentence is written in the modern Arabic English keyboard in the Kuwaiti dialect and written from the voice of “the rest” of the Kuwaiti society who are judging these common unacceptable or different behaviors.  

            An artist who had an influence on this photographic series is Shirin Neshat. Shirin is an Iranian artist who works with photography, film, and video. The subject of her work reflect on the contrast between Islam and the West, femininity and masculinity, public life and private life, and antiquity and modernity. One of her specific photographic series photographed by Cynthia Preston that highly interested me is "Women of Allah". It examines the complexities of women’s identities in the Middle East as it is continuously changing. One of the obvious similarities between our works is the representation of Muslims in the modern world through photography. Another one is the use of text and image. I found the way Shirin Neshat merged text into the image very interesting. She overlapped the text on the women’s skin as if it were engraved or tattooed on.

            “The Other’s Other” communicates that  “othering” or judgment within a community only separates us. In an Islamic country or society one should not only put efforts in stressing globally that this is a religion that represents peace in order to deconstruct the stereotype of terrorism and violence; but more importantly it represents peace internally within the community. Peace is about non-violence as much as it is about the unity and brotherhood.

Works Cited

Chrabieh, Dr. Pamela. "What Is Orientalism?" MEST 329 Islamic Art and Architecture       (2016): 1. Print.

Chrabieh, Dr. Pamela. "Introduction to Islam and the Arts." MEST 329 Islamic Art and     Architecture (2016): 23. Print.

"Gladstone Gallery." Gladstone Gallery. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.

LeMoon, Kim. "Shirin Neshat." Signs Journal of Women in Culture and Society. N.p., 10   Oct. 2012. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.

"Shirin Neshat." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.

Wonder women

Norah Al-Nimer

Project Description

As a female, growing up in Saudi has had a huge impact on my lifestyle, perceptions and way of thinking. Although I am not originally from Saudi, living there my whole life has affected me enormously in different aspects of my life such as the way I speak and dress up. Moreover, as the Middle Eastern countries are more or less conservative, people and especially women are raised based on traditions and culture rather than religion. In Islam, women are given the right to speak up for what they feel and want. They are authorized to have a print in society and to influence others in a good way. However, on the contrary, because of the conservative guidelines Arab countries follow, women have limited opportunities to express themselves or to be part of their communities. Today, despite that, influential women are contributing to their societies by developing initiatives that would encourage other women to speak up for their rights. Moreover, the artist that influenced me to come up with this idea is Laila Al-Shawa; her art and pieces speak up for who she is and what she believes in as a women. She believes in women empowerment and the opportunity that needs to be given to each women to express herself freely. Therefore, the reason I chose to go with the proverb “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” as my main inspiration which incorporates women, peace and Islam is because women in my culture are obliged to act within a framework set by their cultures.

My Inspiration

I have always had a specific perspective on the way I see and think of things. But ever since I came to university, my perception of things changed significantly and I started to see things in a different way. Meeting new people made me a better and more understanding person; I now appreciate diversity and different backgrounds. Women shouldn’t be judged as per the stereotypes and double standards. At the end of the day, we are all human and what we stand for as individuals is what really counts. I chose to portray women in black and white because they are at the two ends of the spectrum which I believe is a reflection of reality. In our societies, women want to say and do certain things but do not because they simply cannot. The peace symbol originated as a logo based on an individual in despair. I incorporated it in a simple and straightforward manner because it echoes both frustration and a sense of optimism.

Nazret Mogtama3 نظرة مجتمع

By Yara Ahmed

I’m a 20 year old Muslim Egyptian girl who was born and raised in Dubai. However, I visit my home country every year (…). In my family, I’m the only girl who is not wearing a Hijab and I get judged for that – ‘a girl who doesn’t fulfill her religious duties’. It used to affect me before, but [their] words don’t really define me! They don’t define the way I was raised knowing my religion, and they don’t define my relationship with Allah.

This artwork displays the image of a non-Hijabi girl who is surrounded by many books however she chose to read the Qur’an. (…) I was inspired by the style of photography and writings of the Egyptian novelist, Ahmed Mourad.

The mosque and the Qur'an

By Mohmed Said Hussen

Islam is and forever will be a monotheistic, moral religion. I concur with this declaration and with the training of the young and the world; others will see that Islam is not insidious. The two pictures that I will be discussing belong to the two most important things in Islam; the first one being the Masjid, where Muslims come to pray and the second one is the Quran which is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God. Quran is the Holy Book that the Muslim follows for guidance and spirituality. The first picture is of the front entrance of the ‘Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque’ taken from my IPad camera in a very peaceful environment at sunset. The Mosque is located in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The mosque was constructed from 1996 to 2007 and is able to accommodate over 40,000 worshipers making it the largest mosque in the United Arab Emirates. The design of the Sheikh Zayed Mosque has been inspired by Persian Mughal and Moorish mosque architecture.

One of the mainstays of Islam pronouncements that Muslims implore towards Mecca five times each day, an action that does not as a matter of course request an assigned space, but rather is surely helped both by security from the components and a perpetual and solid sign of the heading of Mecca. Friday afternoon prayers, as built up in the Quran, were to occur in a mosque in organization with different Muslims, so that the dependable could profit by an imam's sermon on good, political, or social topics. The picture of the masjid looks empty as no one is surrounding it but it depicts the peacefulness and beauty of the nature and the place. There is a beautiful lake by the masjid with a place surrounded by trees. The weather itself looks pleasant showcasing the masjid in good light. All these imageries present how calm the prayer place is even when there is not a soul around. The masjid imagery is clearly the main proof that Islam is a religion of peace as the peace is depicted in the peacefulness of nature and place where it is built around.

The second imagery is of a ‘Quran’ that is shown with calligraphy words written on it. It too has been taken from the same camera but instead of the masjid, it shows the calligraphy and the wordings of the Holy Quran which is the Holy Book of Muslims. In this picture, we can see the careful attention given to the words written in different style. It is no normal pen or writing but it is calligraphy, the writing of the Quran, written in the most beautiful and smooth form. The artwork in this calligraphy is an intense, powerful, pervasive and enduring apparatus. Furthermore, the work is done in detailing, neat and clear manner that we can spot not a single dot or cursive writing failing. Everything in this page looks beautiful and neat especially with the white background. It attracts the readers automatically through it. The calligraphic work is such work that even a Non-Muslim would be attracted towards reading such a beautiful style. Quran is known to be giving the Muslims peace and solution when they read the verses and the beauty of the Quran and its writing makes people read and abide to it.

While doing my research on Islamic Art, the Islamic artwork of the Fatmid period has really influenced and inspired me. They had the particular luxurious work that was enameled with glass and metal work. The artwork detailing is pure and high quality, one you’d find in Paris or France. As a student, I believe that the above two pictures of the Masjid and the Quran give the message of Islam at Peace. Looking carefully at both the pictures, the imageries do not show the sign of any kind of violence but peace even with the quietness and simplicity. There are no imageries that would depict anything related to war, terrorism or blood. Instead, they show the peaceful nature of Islam and how it invites its people to live and abide by peace. As someone who has really read into religions and Islam, I believe that Islam like every religion has its true meaning and message which is peace. It is the people who twist the name of such religion. Even the other imageries that relate to Islam would show the same beautiful and simplicity in different manners that would related to Peace.

 Referenceshttp://www.peaceandislam.com/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/prayer/mosque.shtml

A spark of hope

By Lana Hammade

I.                   Description of Art Work

-          Title: A Spark of Hope

-          Dimensions: 4243 x 2829

-          Media: Camera Canon EOS 650D, editor: Pixlr on iPhone

-          Technique and Style: I took a photo outdoors of a guy’s hands and another one in the mosque of a girl’s hands; both performing Du’a. I edited and darkened both photos then used the photo outdoors as the base, and I overlaid the other photo on top and faded it out. I also darkened the resulted photo. I used different settings to emphasize on the fact that Du’a can be done anywhere and used different genders to show that it can be done by both males and females. I chose photography because it is the art form that I am good at, and then I edited the photos. I darkened the photos because I felt like dark colors work well with the kind of message I am trying to convey.

II.                Statement (Message)

Du’a or supplication literally means “calling” upon God. God says in the Qur’an: "When My servants ask about Me, I am indeed close to them.  I listen to the prayer of every supplicant, when he calls on Me.  Let them also, with a will, listen to My call, and believe in Me, so that they may walk in the right way" (Qur'an 2:186).

When I think of Du’a, I think of calling to God for myself. Call upon God to forgive my sins, to guide me to the right path, to help me be a better person, to provide me with the will to achieve my goals and the requests go on. That is what most people call upon God for; people call upon God to help them in their own dealings.

However, most of us do not look at Du’a from a different perspective. Very few people think of calling upon God for someone else. Very few people sit down for the sole purpose of asking God for His help to guide a friend, or help the less fortunate ones, the strangers, or even the whole community.

We hear about and see in the news all the people who suffer from war, famine, and terrible environmental conditions; people who live in warzones and cannot escape their fate. It is extraordinarily distressing. Yet, we always seem to perform Du’a for ourselves first.

Du’a is a simple act that one can do wherever they are, whenever they can. It could be done in a one’s journey, when one is sick, late at night before sleeping, and even when one is performing daily tasks such as walking or driving from one place to another. This small task, however, carries so much weight when it is done for someone else.

Imagine an Angel performing Du’a for you; this is how glorifying it is to perform a Du’a for someone other than ourselves. God assigned a task for Angels to perform Du’a for the ones who do it for people other than themselves.

According to the Messenger of Allah (SAW) said, “The supplication of a Muslim for his brother in his absence will certainly be answered. Every time he makes a supplication for good for his brother, the angel appointed for this particular task says: `Ameen! May it be for you, too’.” [Muslim]

The same way the person you are performing Du’a for is absent from you, you are absent from the Angel who performs Du’a for you. For this reason, I highly believe that we, as humans, should not forget or neglect our sense of humanity. There are people out there who are suffering from tragedies beyond our abilities to physically aid them; the simple act of Du’a can not only benefit the unfortunate souls, but also those who are living in better conditions and are able to perform it. This is why Islam is the religion of peace. It is a self-less religion that encourages people to stand together, not necessarily physically, but spiritually.  

Performing Du’a is not an obligation to Muslims, but when Muslims perform it, they sense closeness to God, an increase in faith and a relief from distress, isolation and helplessness. Helplessness that comes from knowing that we cannot help the oppressed can be washed away from the sole act of asking God to give them glory over their oppressors.

Du’a can be done by both men and women. It can be done anywhere. God simplified this act for humans, but made it carry a lot of purity and radiance. Remember to not only perform Du’a for yourself, but also for the ones who are silently suffering. Perform Du’a for your mother, your father, your sisters and brothers, and for the entire humanity. It all counts not only in this life, but also in the afterlife. Du’a is the spark to initiate hope and peace.

III.             Artists who influenced me

I was introduced to many artists in this course; however, an artist that has always been an influence to me is a photographer called Paolo Raeli who carries his camera everywhere and snaps pictures of his friends in their natural moments.

A Muslim artist that influenced me is Mustafa Davis who is an American Muslim photographer and filmmaker. He worked in the UAE in many channels that are familiar to me, such as MBC and Dubai TV. The reason he is influential to me is because he uses film and photos as a way to express himself. Many of his photos that I have seen are in black and white, which was initially what I wanted to go for, but I prefer color in pictures. Another thing that I like about his work is that it is always showing individuals and their expressions. Usually his models are dressed in traditional Muslim clothing, such as Hijab for women, but also some are dressed according to their culture.

IV.             Short Biography

I am a 20-year-old Lebanese film student who has a passion for photography. I like art and I find photography and film-making a form of art that one can always learn and expand their potential through. I also find ease in expressing myself through film and photography.  

V.                References

http://islam.about.com/cs/prayer/a/dua.htm

https://istighfar.wordpress.com/2007/08/13/angels-making-dua-for-you/

http://islam.ru/en/content/story/what-dua

http://mustafadavis.com/portfolio/

http://brotherdash.com/how-did-i-get-here/

About Islam and Peace

By Lana Albaik

My name is Lana AlBaik. I am a media student, who enjoys art, whether it’s political, stylistic or existential related, and I enjoy photography, writing and drawing. I like to tell stories through pictures, which is why I found film as a major or a career a good outlet for me to express myself.

            

My Piece is a collection of portrait photographs taken by me to view the grey zone of Islam and its relation with other religions or beliefs in a peaceful manner. They are around 4578 × 3275 pixels per image, and are digital photographs, taken using a Canon, 70Da. I took those pictures in a studio provided for us as MBRSC students at Aud, with a green backdrop, then edited the background into grey for a symbolic reason. My sister, Mays AlBeik who is an artist who promotes peace, and discusses contemporary political issues, heavily influenced me. A good friend of mine who is a photographer, Ibrahim Hasan, who is a deist but admires Islam and the other religions, also influenced me, and helped me brainstorm for the concept.

The main color noted in my piece is grey, which is the most important factor in the setting of the pictures. Grey symbolized a zone where one does not have to take sides on things. Grey is the area where one could take something “white” or “black” and read it their own way. Most importantly, what I meant by grey is the area in which people can be religious or nonreligious in their own personal way, their own way of loving god, and still coexisting with the rest of the people, who choose to love god in their other different way. When I was working on the pictures I talked with each and every subject, who liked my concept and encouraged me. What was interesting is that I ended up talking about it to them, about the concept of what represents each religion, or atheism. The most interesting conversation was, expectedly enough, the conversation I had with the atheist, which was about the symbol I chose to use to represent his belief. While I was planning out the symbols, I was in a dilemma between using a flower, or a science book for the atheist subject. Then I settled for the flower because I figured, in the true essence of a religion, mostly Islam since it’s our main topic and the one I am exposed to the most, reading is highly encouraged, and learning about the world is highly urged. So I figured a flower would represent evolution, the concept of life most atheists believe in; you live, and you die human, with no other dimensional purpose or consequences, they believed in your purpose and true contribution to life as it is. When I asked him, he said a book would be good too, without me suggesting the book. When I explained to him what I thought about the book, and how Islam encourages reading. His response was that this is what it says, but not what people do. And I already considered that, but yet I wanted to stick with the essence and true nature of the religion, so I decided that as long as he fully agreed with the flower, I would keep it. That’s when I realized that this piece is, obviously enough, from my point of view on Islam, and coexistence. So I’m trying to share my idea of peace with Islam, and how people may look something, but are something else entirely, which is why I included myself in the pieces. I get a lot of criticism, or simply baffled expressions when I say that I pray five times a day or read the Qura’an, considering the way I dress.

The most important golden rule in Islam, is treating others as well as you wish to be treated. An examples or these verses would be:

“Serve God, and join not any partners with Him; and do good – to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbors who are near, neighbors who are strangers, the companion by your side, the wayfarer (ye meet), and what your right hands possess [the slave]: For God loveth not the arrogant, the vainglorious” (Q:4:36)

The prophet said many things about that such as:

“Do unto all men as you would wish to have done unto you; and reject for others what you would reject for yourselves.” (Abu Dawud)

“There should be neither harming nor reciprocating harm.” (Ibn- Majah)

“None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself” (Forty Hadith-Nawawi)

“Whoever wishes to be delivered from the fire and to enter Paradise…should treat the people as he wishes to be treated.” (Sahih Muslim)

My main objective is to make people feel that even thought someone might look like something in particular, that doesn’t represent them, and stereotypes do not define them. And most importantly, no matter what someone represents, one should treat them as equally as anyone else, because they are a human like everyone else, who form ways of understanding religion, and practicing it, and that doesn’t represent the other person. Therefore, the concept of peace relies on respect and coexistence with everyone.

Some of the pictures could carry a subliminal difference between the subjects, which is the point, to emphasize the very little actual humanistic difference between people.

Islam is in itself in this word means Peace, and therefore that’s what it advocates, and that does not mean all Muslims are peace advocates, because they identify with the vindictive aspects that can be misinterpreted from Qura’anic scripture and the prophet’s sayings, and Hadiths. This is why such messages as advocating peace among Muslims and non-Muslims are very important.

Resources:

"Qur'aan Today: Golden Rule in Islam - Treat Others as You Wanted to Be Treated." Qura'an Today. N.p., 14 Jan. 2014. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.

The Religion of Peace

By Hind Janahi

“Indeed, Allah enjoins justice, and the doing of good to others; and giving like kindred; and forbids indecency, and manifest evil, and wrongful transgression. He admonished you that you may take heed.” (Al Quran 16:91)

            Islam and peace meet in the provision of serenity and tranquility, it is not surprising that the word Islam is the same “islam" and “al-salam" letters gathered , and it reflects the proportionality principle and the curriculum God has made “greeting" a Muslim ,so a Muslim should not speak with another before the start of the “salam” where he said Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, « al-salam before the speech ».

            Islam is mostly viewed as hostile. When I searched for “Islam is a peaceful religion” the first thing that popped up was “No, Muslims are savages”. It upsets me how much people view Muslims as terrorists. Islam means peace,  the  holy Qur'an teaches that too. There is no doubt that the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, came with peace and mercy for mankind and saved them and removed them from darkness to light, so that people are all up to the highest levels of human morality in all their dealings in life. 

            The idea of islam is formed of ​​peace and safety and established to become the idea of ​​authentic and deep, covering all aspects, both in the universe and man and nature and so on, so that meets the doctrine and laws of Islam. Peace is an integral part of Islam and entrench this act be in the form of behavior and not verbal only. 2:190. “Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah love not transgressors.” War is only permissible in self-defense, and under well-defined limits. When

undertaken, it must be pushed with vigor, but not relentlessly, but only to restore peace and freedom for the worship of God. In any case strict limits must not be transgressed: women, children, old and infirm men should not be molested, nor trees and crops cut down, nor peace withheld when the enemy comes to terms.

———-

My name is Hind Janahi. I’m a business student studying in the American University in Dubai. My parents raised me to stick to my religion no matter how much the world is changing around us. I love photography. I love capturing beautiful moments. I went to Makkah a week ago and it was packed. I was amazed by how many people were there. I’ve been to Makkah a lot of times but this time it was super crowded.

IQRA'

By Esra AlHashimi

I am Esra AlHashmi, a 20 years old architecture student. Studying architecture for 3 years taught me that buildings are frozen periods of time in the form of an object because only through buildings that you can capture how people lived through history.  I would have loved to design a structure that would tell a story since I believe that architecture is another form of art but designing one would have taken a semester on its own. Since buildings tell stories and hold memories just like pictures; I have decided to use photography as a media to my project instead.

As for my art project, I have been inspired by Julien Breton, a french calligraphy artists that creates shapes choreographed with light sticks, to produce an artwork that combines both calligraphy and photography. Taking in granted the darkness of the night while using a high intensity light, like a flashlight for example, and a low shutter speed on the camera settings, we can guide the camera to focus on the only source of light which is in my case a white flashlight. Therefore, whatever kind of movement the light makes can be well captured by the camera. The artwork project resulted in a A3 size picture titled “Iktub” which means “write” in Arabic. The picture depicts faded strays of light looking more like a candle light spelling the word “Iqra’a” in Arabic meaning “read”, the evident message of the artwork. Between almost every other letter lies a shadow of a hand in the form of a writing position symbolizing the hidden message behind the artwork which is the concept of writing.

The word “Iqra’a” meaning “read” was the first word revealed to the Prophet Mohammad from the Quran. “Proclaim ( or Read) In the name of your Lord and Cherisher, Who created..” 96:1.

So the first word God sent to us in the form of a command was Read. As a result, I was wondering why was the first word is Read instead of Al Shahada, or the command of prayer or Hijab. Wouldn’t it make more sense? But God chose to unveil first the simple task of reading or gaining knowledge by reading, which are the vital keys to human development.

Did you know that the best and highest type of worship is by seeking knowledge.

“ Allah will raise up to ranks, those of you who believe and who been granted knowledge.” 58:11 Meaning, if you only read a book for the sake of getting information you are worshiping God. But if that is true, no Muslim should be ignorant. But are they?

This is why I chose to raise this issue in the artwork. Most Muslims are looked at nowadays as ignorant people. But why is that? If the first command unveiled was read. In addition to that, most of those Muslims who are educated do not read for the sake of gaining knowledge but only for the sake of going through what is in front of them. By that I mean, most of those young adults in colleges and universities do not read for educating themselves in a field other than their owns. They only go through what is assigned for them to read by their professors.

How can we read something that isn’t written? Which is the second hidden message of the artwork symbolized by the hand. There is a surah in Quran names “Al-Qalam” meaning “pen” of which God vows by the pen.

We can come to a conclusion that there is some kind of reference to the tool used to write and its impact on the human life.

Also, writing verses of Quran is a form of worship; like calligraphy for example; which is the writing style that inspired this project; yet it’s only an inspiration as I wasn’t able to master the style.

As a conclusion, I have combined these 2 concepts in order to convey that there is more to Islam than fasting and praying. Islam is a way of living and guidance to life.

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Bibliography

"Knowledge and Action." Ahl AlQuran. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.

Nazret Mogtama3 نظرة مجتمع

By Yara Ahmed

Description

Title: Nazret Mogtama3 (Society's look)

Dimensions: 210 x 297 mm

Media: Photograpy

I’m a 20 year old Muslim Egyptian girl who was born and raised in Dubai. However, I visit my home country every year (...). In my family, I’m the only girl who is not wearing a Hijab and I get judged for that - 'a girl who doesn't fulfill her religious duties'. It used to affect me before, but [their] words don’t really define me! They don’t define the way I was raised knowing my religion, and they don't define my relationship with Allah.

This artwork displays the image of a non-Hijabi girl who is surrounded by many books however she chose to read the Qur'an. (...) I was inspired by the style of photography and writings of the Egyptian novelist, Ahmed Mourad.

Keset Hayaty El Gdeeda (My New Life Story)

BY NOURHAN MANSOUR

This project has easily been, one of the very few university projects that have interested me. This is because, for as long as I can remember peace and Islam have been seen as a controversy, due to recent events. So naturally, I jumped at the chance to express myself and my thoughts towards Islam, in the only way I knew how. Through art! However, it isn’t only because I am a Muslim that I feel this strongly towards this subject, but because I hit the three most talked about, hated, discussed, and stereotyped races of all time. Arab, Muslim, Woman … The worst part is, it’s not just me, there are millions of people in the world that feel the same way I do, whether it’s my best friend, for being a Black, Arab, Muslim woman, or a poor working Muslim woman, trying to earn her rights and pay her bills.

I immediately knew what I wanted to express, the moment I was told I had to choose a topic. I wanted to deconstruct stereotypes of women in Islam, and if I made this my life’s mission, I will never fully deconstruct every single stereotype, because of how many there are. However, one sub-topic, has recently stood out more to me than the rest, because this was something that has affected me personally, and not only affected me in my personal life, it has affected me in my work as a student, my vision as a creative individual, and my life as a woman.

Description of my art work:

Title: “Keset Hayaty El Gdeeda” which translated means, my new life story

Medium used: Photography & Painting

Dimensions: Each picture is A3. 891mm x 1260mm (89.1cm x 126cm)

I took 3 different photographs, of my sister, in which she resembles 3 different women. I made sure all 3 pictures are exactly the same, in terms of makeup and lighting, and focused on dark makeup on her eyes and eyebrows, for a deeper intensity. The first picture depicts my sister with her long flowy hair, dark makeup, and a black turtle neck, the second picture, I put her in traditional hijab/veil, with exactly the same setting, and the third and last picture, she was in Niqab.

My initial plan, was to paint 3 pictures of different women in the same way that are tied up with ropes, to show their distress. However, I realized, that to really express what I am trying to say, I would need to get someone in the same position I am in, and who better than my sister. So, I decided to take the pictures and paint them later on, but I faced another problem, trying to show her emotions exactly through drawing. And so finally, I decided I would use the three photograph as they are, with every detail perfectly shown, and too later sketch out and paint on the ropes, on the printed photographs.

My original influence, came from an artist I stumbled upon on Facebook, her name is Mona Ragab, and she is a university student in Egypt, (fine arts). Her picture was so inspiring, and made me really think, about what it’s like for women in countries like Egypt, who basically have no right at all. I complain about some of my rights here, but living in Egypt, or any of the other Middle Eastern countries, is much worse than modern Dubai. This is the original photo:

However, after much thought, especially with recent events, I was a bit annoyed, at the order of the photo. I am not veiled, so I am considered to be in the same category of the last picture on the right, but this isn’t how I view our society. Taking in consideration, that she lives in Egypt, and is veiled, I can understand what she was trying to portray. Her message, was that women in Niqab, are tied down by society, the veiled women is not as tied down, but still has major restrictions, whereas, women who are not veiled, have no restrictions whatsoever, as shown by the painting. I honestly don’t think, I would have given this painting too much thought, if I saw it 4 years ago, because it wouldn’t have dawned on me that non veiled women could be judged to a level that I have witnessed. The other picture that put most of my thoughts in perspective was this one down below:  

I also stumbled upon this picture, on Facebook as well, posted along with a small Arabic poem. I have tried over, and over again, to find the reference for this picture, but sadly had no luck. I would love to meet the person behind this idea, because whoever they are, they managed to explain the story of my life, in just one picture. Looking at both the photograph, and the painting above together, changed everything for me, and allowed everything to fall in to motion. It really deconstructs a lot of stereotypes in just one photo, and moreover, shows a perfect example of “don’t judge a book by its cover”

A photographer named Sebastian Farmborough, once shot a picture of a niqabi veiled woman coming out the sea, here in Dubai. The girl was an Afghani friend of mine, and was very keen on being able to take photos like this especially because of her background. Sebastian, was born in the UK, and lived for 3 years in Saudi Arabia, and then moved to Dubai, after his short time in the Middles East, he started a theme of photos that he called “An Emerging Mystery” in which he shot niqabi veiled women in settings, they would not usually be seen in. He did this, to prove that Islam, and women in Islam, are severely understood, and he wanted to change that. 

His photos, are also one of the main reason I tried to see Mona’s painting in a different way. I was mostly peeved that only niqabi veiled women are depicted as judged upon, or oppressed, or have no rights in society and media.

The statement that I tried to make, with my art project, was complicated at first, especially when I was trying to put all my ideas in one picture, but once it came together it made sense. I wanted people to understand, that yes Islam promotes, modest clothing, and a modest way of dressing but many see it through a certain lenses of veils, and covering one’s self up completely. But, that doesn’t mean, that non veiled women are bad Muslims. Yes, I am not as oppressed in society, like a woman wearing Hijab, or Niqab. Yes, I can sometimes obtain better jobs. Yes, I am allowed in more areas across the world than them. Yes, outside the Middle East, I am accepted in a way that they aren’t. And that’s where the problem starts, Egypt is my home, my country, no matter what, and the fact is, I am not accepted there as the normal deviation of a “good  modern Muslim woman”

The sad fact is, you take one look at me, and judge me on my unveiled hair, my skinny jeans, my makeup, and the fact that I do whatever I want. You take another look at veiled woman, and think one thing, “what great faith!” This obviously changed within different societies, and different places throughout the world, but for sake of argument, I am speaking from the Middle East’s point of view. I initially wanted to create ropes, on the picture of my non veiled sister only, and leave the other two pictures plain, but when I started thinking, I realized it’s not fair either. So, for this project, I will create most of the ropes on the picture without a veil, and for the other two, I will also add ropes, but not as much as the first picture. I am basically doing the opposite of Mona Ragab’s painting.

As, I am writing this, I am sitting here listening, to Um Kalthoum, and something hit me, and so I did some research. How is it that no one ever judged um Kalthoum, on her unveiled self? I called my grandmother and asked her what it was like around the time she was growing up in the situation of Hijab, and she said: “It was very rare to see someone in Hijab, and all the women were free to wear and do whatever they want.” She also mentioned that the Sheikhs wife’s in the Azhar were not veiled, and that was seen as the norm at the time. So forget my message and my statement. I have a question, what changed? It was okay before, why did that change? And how?

When my mother got married, she wasn’t in Hijab, but shortly after she became veiled, and 18 years later took it off … This obviously was a big problem for our family back home, and for her, because people started judging her the moment they found out she used to be veiled. But what changed? Noting … she still wears the same exact clothes, and acts the same exact way, could the fact that she exposed her hair make her a terrible Muslim?

I am recently to get engaged, and as an Egyptian woman, obviously went through the normal traditions and cultures, of getting engaged. I fell in love with a man, who has been my best friend for many years, and I thought I knew everything about him, but I was wrong. I have learned, the hard way that no matter how open minded, or culturally aware a person is, their family isn’t always the same. I was wrong to make that assumption, and I didn’t try to judge them from what I have heard.  The first thing, my significant other’s family asked about me was “does she wear Hijab?” I am not going to comment, and I won’t dare justify it, but can you explain to me what does that mean? The moment, I understood his family, I started thinking, “does his family even have his best interest?” if all they want is a veiled woman, then what does that say? About him?  What does that say about me?

Can a veil draped across my hair really justify what kind of a person I am?

Does a veil tell you if I Pray or not?

Does a veil tell you if I mean well or not?

What does a veil say?

I suffered from traction alopecia, and what that is, is a lot of hair loss everywhere, even though I was one of the lucky ones, it affected me, in immense ways. It affected my hair, my confidence, my way of thinking, and had an impact on the person I am today. Because of alopecia, I resorted to wearing wigs, and the only thing I could think of when his mother asked him about the veil, was “welllllllll, I don’t show my hair” and I laughed, and laughed, and laughed, and that’s because , that is the only way I could have possible dealt with it. As you can tell, this description, ended with a lot of question marks, and I think that is a great symbol of how I feel at the moment, total and utter confusion.

The reason, I have held off on drawing in the ropes until now, is because drawing them on an actual photograph, can mean like they aren’t actually there, it can show that maybe I am the only one that see them there. And at this moment of time, I am not 100% sure yet.

I have always strongly believed, in the spirituality of Islam, and I might not be the symbol of a good Muslim, but that’s between me, myself, and Allah.

Sources:

https://sebfarmborough.carbonmade.com/

https://www.facebook.com/mona.ragab.129?fref=ts