Junior Youth Group

Asiya's Artistic Statement:

Art has always been indicative of the human condition. It serves as the most basic and emotive form of communication that any of us have. What the Junior Youth Group hopes to accomplish with the opportunity to complete a mural in their room at the Islamic Center of Southern California is to create a platform for expression about what it means to be young and Muslim in Los Angeles. In addition to the mural, we hope to decorate the rest of the space with art commissioned and imagined by the students and created by me. The mural itself will be a culmination of the students’ ideas, which so far have ranged from the hardships and negative experiences that Muslims in America face to scenes of natural beauty to what they imagine the afterlife to be like.

Preliminary sketches of these proposals have already been made and the accompanying art around the room will be completed on 18x24 inch sheets of paper with brightly colored ink, in the style of graphic novels with stark but detailed imagery. These will depict more ideas by the students about their identities in America and what it means to be Muslim in the modern age. Preliminary sketches of these pieces will follow as well and they will be completed during the summer of 2016 while the students are on break.