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You can’t talk about the hijab in the Western world without somebody butting in to yell about how it’s repressive or anti-feminist. But Pakistani-American artists Qinza Najm and Saks Afridi are putting a whole new spin on how people look at the veil – by inviting women to take selfies of themselves in full hijab or niqab and instagramming them under the hashtag #DamnILookGood.
The New York-based pair debuted the project in Brooklyn at the Dumbo Arts Festival in September and were adamant that the hijab is often misrepresented by cultures that don’t understand it – chiefly, that many people don’t grasp that wearing the veil can be an active expression of choice, personal style and beauty.
“A woman wearing full hijab and taking selfies of herself may to some people seem like a pointless exercise, but it isn’t,” Najm explains in a video about the project. “A selfie is more than just a picture. It’s a product of a moment when one is feeling beautiful and confident.”
The intent in this is great and all, and of course every woman should have the right to feel confident and beautiful.. but isn’t part of the purpose of wearing a hijab (in a religious light, mostly) to project external (and internal) modesty? And isn’t a “selfie” something that, in this age is a somewhat of a self-indulging, sometimes even cocky act? Even the hashtag itself “#damnilookgood”, sort of goes against the idea behind wearing a hijab, because using vulgar language takes away from the internal modesty..
you’re not muslim so i don’t know why you think you can comment on this anyway but the purpose of the hijab is not modesty! it has never been modesty! it is a religious act that is submitting oneself to god! it is absolutely not about projecting anything at all, because that supposes that what you project accurately reflects your spirituality. which. no.
and a selfie is not a self indulging vulgar act. its a reaction to a culture that wants to turn women into things to be looked at and taking control of the camera and how we are represented, how we represent our selves.
so this project and the larger hijabi community are not losing their modesty by engaging in selfie taking or the #damnilookgood hashtag but are instead taking control of the way people see us, see muslim women who choose to cover as weak and anti feminist, and redefining what people see. its turning the view from ‘look at those poor women’ to ‘look at me this is what i am’
(via fwizard)
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My first impression of this was that everytime you sell yourself to technology and the masses, you lose a bit of your identity I don’t care if that’s completely wrong that’s why I love art
It is an unusual school in an unusual location and is run by an unusual teacher.
Rajesh Kumar is a shopkeeper by profession but spends hours every morning teaching around 80 children from the poorest of the poor in India’s capital.
The 43-year-old visited the construction of the Delhi transit station a few years ago and was disturbed by the sight of many children playing at the site instead of attending school.
When he questioned the parents working at the sites they all said there were no schools in the vicinity and no one cared.
Consequently, his open-air class room was born - between pillars and beneath the tracks of the Delhi transit system, known as the Metro.
Every few minutes a train passes above, the children unperturbed by its sounds.
There are no chairs or tables and the children sit on rolls of polystyrene foam placed on the rubble.
Three rectangular patches of wall are painted black and used as a blackboard.
Anonymous donors have contributed cardigans, books, shoes and stationery for the children, as their parents cannot afford them.
One unnamed individual sends a bag full of biscuits and fruit juice for the pupils every day - another incentive for the children to turn up for their studies.
Baby’s first sip of beer/ how every living creature reacts after tasting beer for the first time.
(via cynicallover)