Performance Art: I am not oppressed.
Following what’s going on in the world, as a Muslim, I felt obligated to talk about this and especially in the way I love most: through my work.
I am a proud Muslim. As this proud Muslim, I can tell you that my religion in no way calls for violence and murder; in fact, it calls for peace, equality and love between everyone, Muslim or not. Everything you see about Muslims is what the government and political system wants you to see...
Please, I only ask this of you. DO NOT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU SEE ON MEDIA! I cannot stress how important this is to me. The world is protraying Muslims as terrorists, ignorant and uneducated people, when in fact we are civilized humans just like you! This portrayal actually makes it so hard for us to fight this Islamophobia we face daily and live among everyone else. I cannot tell you how many times Muslims were beaten up, killed and harrased for being Muslims. Since when was abusing people for their religion okay?
It’s 2020 and there is a concentration camp in China, trapping millions of Muslims, brainwashing them out of Islam. FAMILIES ARE BEING TORN APART JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE MUSLIMS! They are forced to drink alcohol and eat pork (considered as sins in Islam), sleep with each other without marriage (also considered a sin) and are banned from prayer. You may not agree with our beliefs, but for sure you can agree that terrorizing people in this way just because they have different beliefs IS NOT OKAY!
My main focus was the Hijab; for those of you who don’t know, a Hijab is a veil wrapped around the woman’s head, along with dressing modestly. It is a way to show loyalty to our religion and obedience to God, similar to nuns. I have one question for you: why is it when you see a nun you have this immense respect for her, but when you see a Hijabi, you think she’s oppressed or “forced to wear it”. My mom is a Hijabi and the ammount of stares she gets when we go out is raging!
Please I do not ask of you to believe in what we believe in, but we are all entitled to believe in whatever we want and respect others who don’t as well. All I humbly ask is PLEASE do your own research; do not believe everything you see on social media!
If you’ve made it this far THANK YOU SO MUCH! I appreciate you giving time for this so so so much!
I like that you connect yourself so personally with all of your work. This simple performance was quite striking in its simplicity. The choice to create a black and white image cements the comparison to nuns that you made in your artist statement. Overall I found this interesting and beautiful.















