‘Victims of Hatred’, 2019, Color Pencil on Wood, 52”x36”
Pictured are Rehena Begum (a Rohingyan refugee), Haji Daoud-Nabi (victim of New Zealand Christchurch mosque bombings), Tamir Rice (child killed at the hands of police brutality), and Biola Fernando (a child victim to the suicide church bombings in Sri Lanka) - all tied together by the web spun by hatred, animosity, and bigotry.
Variation vs. Similarity
This project explores the theme of variations and similarity. I began with an exploration of cultures, specifically my experiences of growing up in Saudi Arabia as a British-born Pakistani expat. This creative journey then took me to explore diversity via another lens, leading me to focus on those who have suffered due to racial discrimination and persecution, from the Rohingyan refugees to the victims of police brutality in the US.
Having grown up outside of Pakistan in a very British environment within Saudi Arabia often left me feeling quite misplaced. Not being fully from either of these three places left me confused and somewhat lost about what my cultural identity truly was. With Eurocentric notions of beauty impressed upon me at a young age, this work is a means for me to shape my own meaning of my cultural identity and beauty; whether that be through honoring Pakistani clothing, jewelry, and features, illustrating my conflicted sense of self, or celebrating diversity and diaspora as one whole and valid identity.
‘Melting Pot’, 2019, Color Pencil on Wood
A visualization of my perception of my fragmented cultural identity, woven together with strings from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom.
Rohima Kadu (Rohingya refugee)
This discussion of diversity led me to think about spaces where cultural diversity and differences perhaps aren’t welcome.
Specifically, I was drawn to the plight of those who are marginalized and persecuted; those suffering from ethnic cleansing. genocide, or discriminatory violence.
At the time I was working on this project (2019), the Rohingya genocide, the Black Lives Matter movement, and terrorist attacks against Muslims and Christians were at the forefront.
An epidemic of racial violence is occurring in the United States with the increasing counts of police brutality. Tamir Rice was a 12-year old black boy who was shot to death by two police officers in his own backyard for playing with a plastic toy gun. After committing the murder, the officers made no move to call the ambulance as they should have. Tamir Rice was just one of the 10 people the Cleveland Police killed in 2012 (all of whom were black) and is just one out of hundreds of police brutality victims.
The Rohingya, an ethnic Muslim minority in Myanmar, have faced continued persecution and institutionalized discrimination. In 2017, the government launched a violent ethnic cleansing campaign, killing more than 25,000 people and creating 700,000 refugees. Rehena Begum and Rohima Kadu are just two of the victims of the genocide. Both their homes were set on fire while their family was still inside - they were the only survivors.
This web of racially motivated terror attacks seems to continue around the world, from the mass shootings by a white supremacist at Christchurch Mosque in New Zealand to the suicide bombings at a church in Sri Lanka. White supremacy, bigotry, and polarization have led minorities and marginalized groups to be terrorized by colonial legacies and racist thought. My work featuring Rehena, Tamir, Haji, and Biola is not only to honor their memory, but to let this picture of them serve as a reminder of the consequences of intolerance, discrimination, and hatred.