PROJECT RE-FRAME, Islam In America
Narrative proposal Photos: Nassim Hadj-benali
Content by Nassim Hadj-benali Copyedit by Lauren Cucinotta, TED’s Editorial Manager
Nassim Hadj-benali - Š All Rights Reserved 2013
The Artist Nassim M. Hadj benali
N
assim Hadj-benali is an Algerian artist photographer. Nassim is a global soul, and has lived in and traveled to many parts of the world -- this worldview shapes his art. One of the youngest working artists in Algeria, he has been awarded for his work and has had his portfolio recognized by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, University of Central Missouri, and the Art Institute of Boston. As a child, his family moved often, and loneliness became his unique partner -- he spent much of the time meditating, observing and analyzing his new new locations. This would become a great strength in his later works.
awareness on social issues and gave him the desire to “make a change.”
A brilliant student in the traditional sense, he nonetheless found the Algerian educational system too restricting, and set off on quest for more freedom of thinking and creativity. He found that creativity in philanthropic and cultural organizations and within the TEDx community -- all of which have played a huge role in the creation of his art, as they raised his
Moving to the United States was the initial inspiration for his current work -- “PROJECT RE-FRAME, Islam In America.” By setting up studios inside mosques in America and taking portraits of smiling Muslims, his goal is to unveil the side of Muslims that is never shown in mass media, and then to share this image with the world.
Nassim’s work approaches social issues with a touch of sadness, melancholy and wisdom. In one of his most recent conceptual pieces, “Their Daily Life”, The artist recreates a gloomy scene: the point of view of a homeless man in front of the food he prepares daily, from improbable scavenged materials. The work was inspired by the scene “Tabletop Ballet” from the movie “The Gold Rush” by Charlie Chaplin (1926). Child Labor, homelessness, poverty -- after addressing all of these social issues in his work, prejudice and intolerance are now his main focus.
What is “PROJECT RE-FRAME”? “PROJECT RE-FRAME, Islam In America”, is an independent project started by the artist photographer Nassim M. Hadj-benali. The idea was to go to mosques in the United States and take individual portraits of Muslims with a smile on each face. The main goal of the project is to reshape the image of Islam by moving the frame away from that stereotypical image of an angry Muslim with traditional clothing and a distinctive beard and thus, unveil the real image of Islam, and show that Muslims smile, joke and laugh... and much further away from that notion of middle Easternization of Islam. Even though it doesn’t belong to any particular race, Muslims come from 50 odd countries, 5 continents and thousands of different backgrounds
Framing theory explained Framing theory is a concept that first emerged in 1974 with Erving Goffman’s book called Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of experience. The basic premise is this “Framing is the process by which a communication source, such as a news organization, defines and constructs a political issue or public controversy” (Nelson, Oxley, & Clawson, 1997, p. 221). And so in this project we look at the negative manner in which media portray Islam and Muslims and try to reverse the image by creating a frame of our own, a positive one.
Story of “PROJECT RE-FRAME”
C
urrently, Arabs and Muslims in the United States, and elsewhere around the world, are exposed to racial discrimination and human rights issues. What really causes these issues? The media, religious beliefs, cultural differences or simply a lack of understanding? With “PROJECT RE-FRAME, Islam In America”, I tried to address the issue of discrimination against Muslims, attempt to understand it, and then contribute to resolve it. Being a Muslim myself, and having lived for a periods of time in conservative, homogeneous, and at times intolerant, places such as Missouri, Arkansas, my country Algeria and in Saudi Arabia, I deemed that steps toward a better understanding of other cultures, ethnicities, and religions would be a good start to a more harmonious human community. The idea for the project came to me when, during the first few months after I moved to the United States, I realized that when you tell people around you that you are Muslim, the first image that comes to their minds is one of the stereotypical Muslim with a turban, a beard and weapons. Some people have never even seen a Muslim doing regular things. An even funnier twist was that many who I met didn’t believe that I was Muslim -perhaps because I am an artist, and don’t usually wear “traditional” Middle Eastern clothing. I thought it was time to take action, and show the real face of Muslims, which is different than what is repeatedly shown in mass media. By going to mosques and taking portraits of random Muslims, I will re-make the perception of Muslims in the west and beyond. In March 2013, I met two filmmakers: Joshua W. Lewin and Abdulrahman Alghannam, who decided to make a short documentary about “PROJECT RE-FRAME, Islam in America”. For two months, they followed me as I executed my project, and took photos of Muslims.
Islam in America
T
he overall goal is fighting discrimination, prejudice and intolerance and urging people to know more about other cultures. More specifically, the message of this photographic project is to prove to westerners that Muslims are not what is shown in mass media, Muslims can smile, joke and laugh…and are not that different from anybody else in the world. By showing all these Muslims who accepted to be part of the project and get their pictures taken, we understand that since 9/11, Muslims want to improve their image by breaking out of their cocoons and taking action, “PROJECT RE-FRAME” gave them the opportunity to express and be themselves. The project is a double-edged sword, while shooting the documentary I discovered a whole new dimension, that I would call “Islam in America” the true values of Islam devoid of all forms of social conventions or outdated traditions that got mixed with religion over time and became as one in certain Muslim countries. Thus, a second goal came into play, report to Muslim countries about Islam in America, and how it would be an example for our societies, an Islam born out of diversity. As these communities need to tolerate differences within the whelm of their own religion and then learn to accept and coexist with other beliefs. According to my views, intolerance is a form of suspicion, in the nature of human beings to fear, dislike and keep away from the unknown and thus, the first negative assumption brought to him is acceptable and plausible. To a smaller scale, for instance, a house, that stands on a hill far from the community, and is maybe built in a different style is more likely to scare people and bring that sentiment of fear and suspicion and attracts all the rumors and those rumors will turn into negative facts. This is what is happening nowadays with Muslims as they all stay away from light, inert and motionless. This is the moment to act and make the first step towards other cultures and introduce ourselves to the western world. If we look at Gallup, Inc. polls; 63% of Americans say that they know a little or nothing about Islam and in the same poll we can find out that Muslims are among the least desirable neighbors. If non-Muslim Americans knew that among all the crimes registered the last two years (before 02/2013) none involved MuslimAmericans and actually 93% of Muslim-Americans have no sympathy for al-Qaeda, they would maybe change their perception of Islam. And it works in the other way too Muslims have to know more about Christians and Jews. I hope that people will learn to dig deeper and not simply believe what they have been told by the media or another source of information.
As the bearer of the project, the issue of discrimination that my community Is facing is one of my main concerns. I want to take this project and its message and share it globally. My role in this project is carrying out the following tasks:
Pre-Project - - -
Location scout the Midwest of the United States looking for Islamic Centers, Muslim communities and mosques, and for a variety of subjects Gather needed equipment: cameras, lights, stands, a background Launch a promotional campaign
The Project: - - -
Film interviews focusing on the question: Why is it so important for the Muslim community to be part of this project? Photographing Muslims around the Midwest Interview Islamic scholars about the issue of discrimination and Muslim identity in America
Post Project:
- Organize Indoor/outdoor exhibitions of the portraits and films - Give talks and host debate sessions with scholars and community members whose work speaks to the issue of discrimination and Muslim identity
Re-Framing Islam - The movie
JOSHUA C. W. LEWIN . ABDULRAHMAN ALGHANNAM . NASSIM M. HADJ-BENALI
Synopsis Re-Framing Islam is a short journey into discovering Islam in the United States and how the American media portrays it to americans and the western world. The movie tries to bring answers to questions that have remained unanswered, or hardly ever brought up to discussion “Can we change that negative fame of Muslims?”, “Where does this reputation come from?”, “Why does the American media keep focusing on the negative aspect of islam?”. The filmmakers decided to follow the making of “PROJECT RE-FRAME, Islam In America” by the artist Nassim Hadj-benali who wanted to get rid of that stereotypical image of an angry Muslim repeatedly shown in media by setting up mini studios inside mosques in Missouri and taking portraits of Muslims with a smile on each face. Answers are brought progressively through explaining the theory of “framing”, making a stop every now and then interviewing experts and professors from different areas for multiple perspectives on what they personally think of islam and what their opinion is on the artwork. Film by: Abdulrahman Alghannam/Joshua C. W. Lewin/Nassim M. Hadjbenali Language: English
Length: 20mins Year: 2013 Subtitles: French, Arabic
Country: US/GB/KSA/Algeria
Contact w w w.proj e c t ref rame.com
+1(660) 525-3722 / +213 (551) 473-503
reframeproject@gmail.com