Know not the Person’s Skin or Color, but the Person Underneath

Reflections on the Muslim Self Portraits Exhibit on display at Guilford College:
Jan 9-Feb 29, 2012

By: Thomas Kerr,  a Center for Principled Problem Solving Scholar - Guilford College

When I first walked into the gallery I was dazzled by all of the self-portraits that covered the entire room.  After taking a quick glance at all the portraits that surrounded me I got the impression of “who are these people?”  There were multiple portraits posted all over the room with faces of Muslim people in their everyday lives. Each of the portraits showed a Muslim person in their everyday lives like playing basketball, wearing normal attire, praying, and being with friends.  It made me feel welcomed into the room which made it comfortable for me to walk-around and see all the wonderful portraits of different Muslim people.  The gallery displayed both male and female characters in their portraits which gave me a much better idea of both genders of the Muslim people.  Each portrait had a small description note placed on the side of the portrait emphasizing the portraits meaning.  Also, while I was looking at the portraits and their description notes made me feel like each one in the gallery was trying to send a message to me about themselves as a person. 





” Thank God and thank you America for giving me a new life.” – Ansar

(sign translated from Urdu)



I stepped closer to the portraits to read the meaning behind portrait.  There was one portrait where an elderly man was holding what looked like a white sign with Arabic writing on it.  I can only remember was that this man was thanking America (the United States) for helping his son make a good life in this land.  I had a strange feeling about this portrait because I was just moved how this man was so different from what a lot of news & television say about Muslim people.  In the past years I only knew Muslim people as an enemy, a threat, people who had no peace in their minds and were not visually scene as human beings based on what I saw from the media.  It was very interesting to learn more about this person, who is a Muslim, rather than hearing from newscasters or the press. 

Experiencing this man’s portrait and his meaning behind it made me realized that both of us were very similar.  For example, like how both of us were mistaken for a lot of things and people did not really know much about us or who we are.  Like how this elderly man as a Muslim many people see him as a threat to the United States while me as a Native Hawaiian people in the US think of me living in grass huts where the girls wear only coconut bras.  Also, this elderly man is Muslim who has been able to find great happiness in America while the many Americans shun away Muslims from their society.  I love to enjoy my Hawaiian culture by dancing hula and playing the ukulele but in my community a huge racial conflict between whites and native Hawaiians has caused lots of separation between the two groups.  It is amazing to think that in this world people can only see the color of your skin, but never visualize the person underneath the skin.  I love being a Hawaiian because I love my culture, the food, the history, and everything about it.  It is who I am on the inside.  All I wish is that people finally ease off of their racial ideas and hatred in order to give others a chance to show who they really are.  

This gallery was such a great experience to learn about Muslim people and about themselves as a person. It made me really understand and realize the normal, everyday life style of the people who are Muslim.  I may have not learned everything about this Muslim people but I was able to get a little taste of who they are as a person. 

Experiencing this extraordinary gallery makes me yearn for the next upcoming events like “Poetic Portraits of a Revolution” will begin be on February 10 at 7:30pm in the Art Gallery at Guilford College.  Also, I hope to have a chance to see the gallery of the “Women & Islam panel” in the Art Gallery on the 22^nd of February at Guilford College.  Overall, my learning experience of the Muslim people is just getting started.