with Marwan Bassiouni. Hosted by Chedly Belkhodja (Concordia) and Paul May (UQAM)
Islam comes in all shapes and colours. It is now Western and a part of the national identity and landscape of many countries. Since January 2018, Marwan Bassiouni has visited mosques in various countries in order to document their presence in the landscape from the inside. He was led into the hearts of cities, suburbs, villages, industrial zones and remote areas, alongside rivers, lakes and mountains. Mosques were able to become a part of the Western landscape by adapting to the shapes and colors of the local architecture – by building minarets and prayer rooms out of bricks, wood and various other materials. Through this journey, Marwan Bassiouni not only witnessed the diversity of locations in which Muslims are living today, but also the diversity within the Muslim community itself.
Unfortunately, Muslims are the most targeted minority when it comes to hate crimes, and recent terrorist attacks have contributed to an increase in islamophobia, racism and xenophobia towards Muslims. Many Western medias are biased in their representation of Muslim peoples and contribute towards negative and unwelcoming sentiments towards this multi-ethnic and multi-cultural minority demography. The mosques contained in this project were therefore left unidentified to respect the wishes of mosque representatives who feared for their safety. All photographs in this series document views of actual mosques within their original surroundings.
Marwan Bassioni’s images, often presented large-scale, lie at the intersection of documentary practice, fine art, and intercultural mediation. In his photographs, he explores the poetics and aesthetics of documentary photography while focusing on the Western landscape and themes related to identity, spirituality, culture, and the politics of representation.
His work is held in private and public art collections such as Kunsthaus Zürich, Kunstmusem Bern, Kunstmusem Den Haag, The Nederlands Fotomuseum, and many other arts centres. Marwan Bassioni is the recipient of the W. Eugene Smith Student Grant, the Harry Pennings Prize, the Prix Circulation(s)-Fujufilm and several other awards and nominations. His book New Dutch Views was a finalist for the Aperture First Book Award at Paris Photo.
Chedly Belkhodja is Professor and former Principal of the School of Community and Public Affairs at Concordia University. He holds a BA (1988) in Political Science from l’Université de Moncton and an MSc (1990) in Political Science from l’Université de Montréal. He completed his Diplôme d’études approfondies (1991) and his PhD (1996) in Political Science at l’Université de Montesquieu (Bordeaux, France). His research focuses on immigration policies and mobility of migrants in the case of less common destinations. He is also interested in the processes of integration and inclusion.
Paul May is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the Université du Québec à Montreal. He holds a PhD from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris) and UQAM. His research focuses on the consequences of immigration for Western societies, with a particular focus on debates on multiculturalism, public controversies related to identity politics in the public sphere, and the agency of migrants during their migratory journey. Before joining UQAM, he was a post-doctoral researcher at Queen’s University (Canada) and Harvard (United States). Dr. May was awarded the Vincent Lemieux Prize for the best thesis in political science in Canada as well as two awards for teaching excellence at Harvard University. He regularly writes articles and op-eds, notably including the Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post US, Le Monde, Le Figaro, and Liberation.
REGISTRATION
Please note that all our events are free and open to all, but registration is mandatory. For any questions please contact cohds.chorn@concordia.ca
LOCATION
In-person in LB-1019 (Sunroom), COHDS
COHDS/ALLAB is located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory, in Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal.
