This was a final project for a course I attended last semester. At first, it was unexpectedly not as challenging as I thought it would be. I was hoping this is the result of improvement through my past courses. However, it quickly became difficult and challenging once I realized I was actually going to join a competition with this piece - The Art for Change Prize.
The theme for this competition is "Equality". My art symbolizes equality that must be reached in abstract ways while keeping the vibe aesthetic and meaningful. I am a Muslim woman who feels comfortable and loves to dress in my religious attire, including the veil. This topic is very meaningful to me, so I hope that others can also see this from my perspective. This piece can also be translated according to the viewer's perspective.
I created an upside-down world where the Earth is drowning underwater and a girl in an Islamic attire is reaching out for it. The bottom part is faded out because that symbolizes how some Muslim women feel the need to hide their pleasure from wearing religious attires when outside due to fear of being judged. While this shouldn't be the case, we cannot deny that inequality among genders is nothing new, especially towards Muslim women. The visual representation is that of the lives of many young Muslim women who try to fit into the society that drowns them with hypocritical standards, a society that claims liberation, yet criticize those who do not follow the default rules of "liberation', such as choosing to wear the veil. The little red sparks are the hypocrisy and judgment that society burdens us with.
Equality in all aspects comes with courage and bravery. If we cannot accept ourselves and combat the standards of society, we will continue to be taken advantage of. Meanwhile, society is created by people, thus it is a collective responsibility that people educate themselves instead of following the trends of the ignorant and learn to treat everyone with equality.
The piece was completed through the creative tools of Adobe Photoshop and InDesign. The original pictures are of the New York City buildings was taken by me from the Staten Island Ferry in mid-August, and the girl in an Islamic attire and a hat reaching out for the "earth" is myself; the picture was taken in a 3D museum in Langkawi, Malaysia back in 2020.
Here is my piece titled: Where I Once Lived
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