I've been secretly and enthusiastically working on a personal project called Red, White, and Blue. It is a self portrait series exploring the idea of patriotism and it's layers through my own experience as an Arab, Muslim American.
I've had this project sort of in my head in different forms since last year but it has evolved into something I finally feel passionate about. I have been so fortunate to be mentored from it's beginnings and through to its completion (Inshallah) by my dear friend and teacher Banafsheh from Boston Photography Center. We have been meeting every two weeks to discuss the project, put together an artist statement and eventually I will start to photograph for it. I'm still in the artist statement phase, gathering and organizing my ideas in a cohesive and interesting way. I'm doing this mentorship program with a few other amazing photographers doing their own personal projects. It has been great to share and get feedback from each other and watch one anther's progress. Banafsheh suggested we keep a diary of the process, to keep track of things as they move along both emotionally and through the work itself. So I'll be sharing as I go, on this blog and over on the group Facebook Page.
What inspired me to do this is of course my own experiences as a human living with my own roots being born and raised in the US. In one of our sessions Banafsheh mentioned art being about personal experiences and I couldn't agree more. I think art is personal self expression and if its not personal, raw, and coming from an authentic place, it can come across as dry and boring. I find that the more I get into it, the more I feel myself tearing at these layers I never really explored. It has been both challenging and exciting to face certain aspects of myself, and my upbringing.
In my next post I will go into more depth about the topic and what the project will explore. I wanted to keep this post short and sweet. All my projects start with a color story and a visual board (I kept this projects board private on Pinterest but these are a few images from it). The project will be fully in red, white and blue but I will be using the colors in unconventional ways that tie into my heritage and faith. I plan to make it a story of layers combining elements of pattern, fashion, and color that explore emotions related to being an Arab, Muslim American.
I've been taking things a step at a time because I realized that's how you get things done. Doing a bunch of little things until it becomes something big. I'm seriously so excited!
Until the next update...
Light and Love,
Feda
