For my final project I wanted to make a textile inspired by the beautiful patterns in Islamic architecture. It is a commentary on Islamophobia in the world and the resulting neglect of the beautiful Muslim culture. As I grew up in the Middle East this is a topic that is very personal. I have called Qatar my home for over 16 years now and the wonderful people there have made it even more special for me for allowing me to do so. It angers me when I see the blindfolded and unrequited hate that they receive for merely existing. The second largest religious population in the world is being judged for the actions of a few of individuals. In my seminar paper I talk about this issue and the cultural appropriation that goes along with it whereas in my studio project I created a textile by making a stencil and spray painting on cotton fabric. I chose cotton as that is the what is used to make the traditional thobes for men.
I first started by dying 2 yards of fabric blue and then spray painting the word “Mashallah” along with the pattern using the stencils that I laser cut on chipboard. Mashallah is an Arabic word that means “God has willed”. I used blue, gold, orange and green for my piece as these are the most commonly used colors in Muslim culture.
This was my first time using spray paint so it did not end up looking like what I had envisioned so I purchased some more fabric and tried again. This time I laid out tracing paper so as to prevent the paint from falling on to the rest of the fabric. This process was much more efficient and organised.
On the final fabric I decided not to paint on the word “Mashallah” as it would make the fabric more easily received by a wider variety of persons. It is an attempt to make people from all over the world and all different religious backgrounds appreciate this rich and beautiful religion without the meaningless stereotypes. You can choose to make a garment out of the textile or style it in a wide variety of ways some of which are shown below. It is only limited to the wearer’s imagination!
I used the blue fabric as a backdrop for my photoshoot inspired by Kehinde Wiley’s work.
I first started by dying 2 yards of fabric blue and then spray painting the word “Mashallah” along with the pattern using the stencils that I laser cut on chipboard. Mashallah is an Arabic word that means “God has willed”. I used blue, gold, orange and green for my piece as these are the most commonly used colors in Muslim culture.
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For my final project I wanted to make a textile inspired by the beautiful patterns in Islamic architecture. It is a commentary on Islamophobia in the world and the resulting neglect of the beautiful Muslim culture. As I grew up in the Middle East this is a topic that is very personal. I have called Qatar my home for over 16 years now and the wonderful people there have made it even more special for me for allowing me to do so. It angers me when I see the blindfolded and unrequited hate that they receive for merely existing. The second largest religious population in the world is being judged for the actions of a few of individuals. In my seminar paper I talk about this issue and the cultural appropriation that goes along with it whereas in my studio project I created a textile by making a stencil and spray painting on cotton fabric. I chose cotton as that is the what is used to make the traditional thobes for men.
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