Monsters
The five paintings in the series Monsters explore themes of identity, perception and marginalization. Each subject, including myself, is a young Australian from a Muslim background. They do not bear any Islamic signifiers other than their Arabic names. I am interested in the perception of young Muslims in the contemporary multicultural Australian context. While we may not bear any external indicators, it is the name that defines us as the ‘other’, and presages many assumptions and misconceptions about what we represent. These names are predisposed to assumptions of misogyny, violence, suppression of liberty and guilt. In the popular imagination we assume the role of the bad guy.