“There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” -Rumi
For the past month, journalist Layla Quran and writer/photographer Aisha Anwar have been traveling across North Carolina collecting stories from Muslim community members. They have turned those stories into a multimedia exhibit that is currently on display in the Carolina Union art gallery at UNC Chapel Hill. The exhibit is in honor of Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha, and Razan Abu-Salha.
Passion in Practice: Muslims of the Community is a multimedia experience featuring Muslims as they pursue their passions or interests and embody Islam in their daily lives. A first installment, exhibited in the fall of 2013 featured Muslim students and scholars. The pictures from that first installment can be found here. This second installment of Passion in Practice showcases the work of North Carolina Muslim community members, and how Islam drives their daily lives. To watch the video made of all the people interviewed for this year’s exhibit, please click here.
The exhibit will be on display for the remainder of the academic semester.
Aisha Anwar is a writer and photographer based in North Carolina. She’s interested in depictions of ethnic children in juvenile literature and she is currently writing her first children’s book, called Finding Layla. Her photographs and writing have appeared in ISLAMiCommentary, Illume Magazine, The Daily Tar Heel, Carolina Quarterly, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. Follow her on Twitter: @Aisha_Anwar01 .
Layla Quran is a Journalist from Greenville, NC. Her past research and multimedia projects include interviewing Iraqi refugees about the physical and psychological barriers which emerged between the Iraqi people after the US invasion, and the impact and role of the Arts in Palestine. Layla has spent time in Istanbul, Turkey, collecting sound bites and footage for a future documentary film on how Kurdish individuals assert their identity within Turkey. She hopes to continue creating art and media in order to promote alternative ways of viewing the world. You can see more of her work at https://laylakquran.wordpress.com.
