Visual Arts at St. Thomas

Guest curated by Bobby Rogers and presented by The Bureau

Inspired by the 2014 #BeingBlackAndMuslim that was initiated by the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative, Bobby Rogers created a series of photographs that challenge the mainstream meaning of what it means to be “Muslim.” Much like the unjust treatment of Black individuals in our country, Rogers states “there is, and always has been, an erasure of Black Muslims from our historical teachings in America, just as there is an erasure of Black and Muslim cultures worldwide.” The intention was for this project to bring awareness to the challenges that arise from occupying two axes of the most marginalized groups in society and “for others to understand the true beauty and resilience of being Black and Muslim.”

No matter the ethnic background, we continue to witness the misunderstanding of the Muslim identity in America and worldwide. Fueled by conversations centered around racism and Islamophobia, any progress towards understanding and change continues to be deeply hindered. Expanding upon his previous work, Rogers and the team at The Bureau have created a photographic series focused on religion, identity, and youth that returns to the root of his previous series and asks the question, “what does it mean to be “Muslim” in America?” In an early conversation between Marria Thompson and Bobby Rogers, he shared that children “experience faith with so much wonder, and I believe that in these trying times, their world view and their unfettered curiosity will inspire many.” Serving as his inspiration, this new series of photographs, Innocence of Faith, features Muslim children of diverse ethnicities and intends to bring awareness, share hope, and inspire positive change in the audience’s perspectives. 

 

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The Department of Art History would like to thank our co-sponsors for their support: American Culture & Difference, Campus Ministry, Encountering Islam Initiative, Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies, Justice and Peace Studies, and Student Diversity & Inclusion.

 

 

Poem by Douglas Kearney

This is us, seeing us. From either side of the frame. While still—like light alighting upon form, form before the hazy memory of a garden—some distinctions emerge.

Yet, to what end these distinctions, when a ghutra assumes the structure of carved stone? When children’s skin shows starlit as the heavens? When eyes challenge as they wonder? When shadow understudies distance; not someone’s weary idea of darkness—but distance: that which rhymes with time as innocence does faith?

Here: these photographs make-to hold time. Hold as in embrace. Us holding us. A teeming garden we are. And in this time, we hold onto faith.

Who you see here, is our Now and our soon-come Future. These children show us the distance between innocence and faith, a distance so slight a girl holds it in her resting hands. So slight a distance it balances between the tilt of a boy’s shoulders. Who we hold here helps us see what we can- not without faith—the future.

Remember the future? How it held both challenge and wonder? How you could see it via the lens of faith. Can you see it?

We do.
We do.
It’s here.

Original poem written by Douglas Kearney for the Innocence of Faith exhibition.

The Bureau is a multidisciplinary creative media studio. We envision, create, and curate visual narratives to weave the thread of our collective histories. Art, as an expression of love, provides one of the few avenues in which the imagination can be completely unbound. As such, in an era of injustice, it must remain a totem of truth; one that demands an exercise of imagination and that envisions a future in which the principles of righteousness, morality, and the sanctity of human potential reign central.

Our team includes visual artists, designers, teachers, producers, editors, lawyers and poets.