The Silence of Others: Exploring Islamophobia Through Images

3 minute read

“Osama! Osama!”— yelled a pair of complete strangers, as photographer Bharat Choudhary walked to his apartment from the University of Missouri campus in 2009, where the photographer was pursuing a Master’s degree in photojournalism. Islamophobia is a personal issue for Choudhary, who is an Indian Hindu.

“I had a big beard at that time,” adds Choudhary, who used the incident as inspiration for his current project, which documents Muslim life in the United States and England. Titled The Silence of Others, the series captures similar situations and their effects on the project’s participants, as well as the lives of young Muslims and the communities to which they belong.

Choudhary traces the origins of the idea back to his time as a student in India, where he worked with CARE India in Ahmadabad in 2004. The organization provided rehabilitation to victims of ethnically charged violence, who lost limbs or were paralyzed in the 2002 riots in the Indian state of Gujarat. The images he saw there formed an experience that Choudhary says “will always be there with me.”

He began working on the project in the Midwest, where he documented stories in small towns across Missouri and Illinois, as well as larger cities like Chicago. Choudhary is continuing the second phase of the project in England, broadening the geographic reach of the body of work and expanding it as a platform to help Muslims and non-Muslims understand each other.

Though the growing body of work represents a variety of life stories—a Missouri couple’s efforts to establish the state’s first Mosque, a Caucasian woman’s conversion to Islam and the development of Muslim communities in Chicago, London and elsewhere—Choudhary says he has found similar themes of alienation and ostracism of his “Others” on both sides of the Atlantic. But it’s precisely the challenge of breaking through their silence that captivates Choudhary and pushes him to continue the project.

“It’s finding the right kind of people who would be willing to talk and be photographed—that is one thing that keeps me awake all night,” Choudhary says. “It’s been quite an interesting journey so far.”

Bharat Choudhary is a photographer based in London, England. The Silence of Others is currently supported by a grant from the Alexia Foundation for World Peace and Cultural Understanding. Select images are on display at “Moving Walls 19,” an exhibition opening at the Soros Foundation in New York on Dec. 1.

Members of a role-play team after their act at a local community event in London, on June 26, 2011. The play explored many problems that young Muslims face (right) and how they can live a better life by following the examples of ancient Islamic leaders (left).© Bharat Choudhary / The Alexia Foundation
A ghost train and its passengers at a community fair in London, July 31, 2011.© Bharat Choudhary / The Alexia Foundation
Ahmad Safi and his wife Deeba spend time together at their home in St. Joseph, Mo., March 6, 2010. The couple has been working with other Muslim families to establish the first Mosque in St. Joseph and say they have faced significant resistance from the local non-Muslim community members.© Bharat Choudhary / The Alexia Foundation
Caitlyn Green, right, in a field outside Columbia, Mo., July 2, 2010. Green lives in a rural town and converted to Islam more than a year ago, but her Catholic family does not accept the decision.© Bharat Choudhary / The Alexia Foundation
From left, Minhaj, Ashiq, Shofique and Abid prepare to leave London for a gathering on Islam and Young Muslims in Birmingham, England, October 17, 2010.© Bharat Choudhary / The Alexia Foundation
Kaiser Aslam, 19, sketches the city's skyline at the Ohio Street beach in Chicago, Ill., on May 24, 2010, as a drawing is carried away by the wind. © Bharat Choudhary / The Alexia Foundation
Iqbal Shariff, 24, practices punch combinations at the Ultimate Fitness gymnasium in Evanston, Ill., May 17, 2010. "As a child I always thought that a situation similar to the French Revolution would occur in my neighborhood and people will take over my house," Iqbal said. "I was very scared then and felt that I would lose everything because of being a Muslim."© Bharat Choudhary / The Alexia Foundation
Shameen Pasha, 9, plays basketball alone at the gymnasium of her school at Villa Park, Ill., April 24, 2010.© Bharat Choudhary / The Alexia Foundation
Nick, left, a recent convert to Islam waits along with Ahmad Safi for the prayers to begin at the local Mosque in St. Joseph, Mo., March 6, 2010. "I can't see," said Nick, who is blind, "But those who can, they should read the Quran and see for themselves if it preaches violence or not."© Bharat Choudhary / The Alexia Foundation
Eric Bhaimia, 21, stops for directions at the N. Wells bridge in Chicago, Ill., May 24, 2010. “I do not come to this part of the city frequently as I always feel that I am lost in this crowd of people,” he said.© Bharat Choudhary / The Alexia Foundation
A young Muslim girl attends a fair in London, England, October 24, 2010.© Bharat Choudhary / The Alexia Foundation
Yaser Aslam, 22, walks past by an art installation at the Stained Glass Museum in Chicago, Ill., on April 29, 2010. In January 2002, after the failed shoe bombing incident, Yaser and his younger brother were at a local shoe store with their friends when a female store employee walked up to them and reportedly said, “These shoes are meant for display and not for destruction.” © Bharat Choudhary / The Alexia Foundation
Amina Demir, left, and her younger sister, Bridgeview, Ill., June 3, 2010. The two were in their car when a middle-aged Caucasian male in a car next to them reportedly shouted "sand nigger" and drove away. Amina followed his car, noted the license number and went to the police. A local court later sentenced the man to 150 hr. of community service.© Bharat Choudhary / The Alexia Foundation
Anida Yoeu Ali, a Muslim artist, shares her disappointment a few days after vandals defaced her exhibit at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, May 11, 2010. The exhibit, which addressed racial profiling and the rise of violence and hate directed at Muslims in the post-9/11 era, was vandalized with large caricatures and a word bubble highlighting the text “Kill all Arabs”. © Bharat Choudhary / The Alexia Foundation
Iythar, an Egyptian-British artist, paints at her studio in east London, July 17, 2011. One of her paintings, top-left, is titled, The Way Sarkozy Intended It. "It is an interpretation of the burga ban in France," she said. "It shows how the ban takes away the voice and identity of Muslim women, leaving them speechless and incomplete." © Bharat Choudhary / The Alexia Foundation
A man walks past a poster at the Global Peace and Unity event in London, England, October 23, 2010. The British government boycotted the annual event that year claiming that several extremist groups were also participating in and helping to fund the event.© Bharat Choudhary / The Alexia Foundation

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