LaGuardia Students Develop Exhibit Focusing On Muslims

posted on: Feb 7, 2015

Last fall LaGuardia Community College photography students and faculty devoted two semesters to a project they fervently embraced.

They wanted to illuminate the various life experiences of the American Muslim community, so they captured the “Faces of Islam,” through thought-provoking portraits. While several images were shot by students as individual projects, other works were the result of photos that were taken of subjects who modeled in the classroom.

The unique exhibit, which opens Saturday, can be viewed at the Queens Museum through March 1.

“The premise of this photo project is to document the diversity within the Muslim community and show that they are not a monolith,” LaGuardia’s Alexandra Ben Othman said. “My role was to bring in the subjects, many of whom I’ve known for several years; others, I was introduced to through people who were photographed.”

Folks included in the “Face of Islam” project range from politicians to students, activists and even a princess.

“When selecting my subjects, my first instinct was to reach out to those groups who one wouldn’t necessarily think of as Muslim,” said Othman. “Many of my earlier subjects were from Central and South America, since Latinos are the fastest-growing convert group in America.”

Because African Americans are the oldest and one of the largest Muslim groups in America, she said it was important to represent them as well.

“And then of course, we have people from India, Pakistan, Egypt, Morocco and Palestine,” she said. “Some other groups include a woman from Kazakhstan, a Tanzanian of Indian descent, a white convert and a Filipino from the island of Mindanao, who is the daughter of a sultan.”

Two LaGuardia students, who captured images that are on display in the “Faces of Islam” exhibit, share their unique experiences.

Gianni Sanchez Cruz, 27, was born in Ecuador and lives in the Bronx.

Scileppi, Tammy. “LaGuardia Students Develop Exhibit Focusing on Muslims.” TimesLedger. Http://www.timesledger.com/, 6 Feb. 2015. Web. 7 Feb. 2015. <http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2015/6/islam_2015_02_06_q.html>.