Mapping Sanctuaries (2020-21)
By
Alaa Alsaraji
'Mother's Living Room #1' part of Mapping Sanctuaries series. The image shows a black line illustration of a living room with chairs, coffee table and rug, presented on a peach-coloured background. Image credit: Alaa Alsaraji.
Mapping Sanctuaries is a series of digital illustrations and sound pieces, exhibited at P21 gallery and online, aiming to examine and celebrate the spaces and places where British Muslims can feel a sense of safety and belonging, despite living in a context of rising Islamophobia.
With rising Islamophobia, fuelled by hateful media rhetoric and State surveillance and criminalisation of Muslim communities, our families and communities often feel unwanted, targeted and both physically unsafe and socially isolated, cautious to fully be ourselves and embrace our heritage and faith within British society. This can foster feelings of isolation and ‘otherness’ within Muslims, combined with an uncertain sense of identity within diaspora communities.
Despite these internal and external conflicts, which have expanded over generations, communities have established and maintained their own safe havens. From the private to the public, these spaces are often improvised and built out of necessity, yet they create a sense of belonging and safety, where multiple identities can exist as one. From the Iraqi import shop down the road to the local mosques to our own homes - the creation of these spaces consciously or unconsciously enhances a sense of belonging and ultimately creates a sanctuary from the realities of life as British Muslims.
Mapping Sanctuaries is a collection of digital illustrations and sound pieces exploring the notions of safety and the spaces that exist between isolation and belonging within Muslim communities. Mapping Sanctuaries aims to platform the voices of British Muslims from different backgrounds to illustrate what these spaces look like, feel like and what they provide physically and emotionally for these communities.
“I’ve never seen such a beautiful, tender and complex reflection of Muslim lives in Britain!”
“An interesting meditation on the link between peoples and places. The themes within the images and audio brought up a wave of nostalgia for old haunts frequented in my early years of conversion, as well as deep thoughts on those places considered a sanctuary in my current situation.”
More information: www.mappingsanctuaries.co.uk
