Samim Abedi
Who I Am
My parents were born in Afghanistan, but the rest of my ancestry goes back to Uzbekistan and I am ultimately of Turkic/Mongolian ancestry. However, I do not try to associate myself with a certain nationality, but more with my religion, Islam. I began my collage with the Afghani flag in the background with different pieces of fabric that my mother had lying around. She worked for a sewing company for years so she is always making something. Although I do not hold Afghanistan extremely important in my history, I am still an Afghan-American. Then, I pasted many different articles about controversies that currently surround my people and my religion. The convenient, yet sad, thing is that I did not have to look in many newspapers to find these articles; wherever I looked, there they were.
I believe surrounding the Afghani flag with articles displays the fact these issues literally surround Afghanistan and Muslims. Also, covering most of the Afghan flag highlights the fact that although I am Afghan-American, it is not the most important thing to me. I was able to find certain words in newspapers and magazines that expressed my opinion on certain issues. Words like “cold cash,†“business,†“enough,†and “race issues†address many underlying causes of certain conflicts such as the Afghan War and the conflict in Israel.
Lastly, I put an Islamic symbol that reads, “There is no god but Allah and Muhammed is his Messenger.†This proclamation, when recited with sincerity, makes a person Muslim. I surrounded this symbol for Islam with sunshine and rays that shine over the articles around the page, delivering a message that true Islam, not the kind portrayed by the media, is the Light in life and all worldly matters are trivial next to it.
December 12th, 2006 at 10:27 pm
The description mentioned that one’s nationality was not important in comparison to one’s religion. This is nicely shown by placing the Islamic symbol on top of everything, showing that it is more important than anything else shown.
I imagined the stains left on Afghanistan’s image from various events and the media coverage of them. The symbol for Islam and its rays seem to erase the negative representation by offering hope to faithful innocent people.
December 13th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
The message that religion is more important than nationality is strongly represented in your collage. The fact that the Islamic symbol is over the Afghan flag emphasizes the importance you give to your religion over your nationality. The articles about the various issues affecting us Muslims around the globe just adds more to your original point about religion and shows how you feel about the issues. Lastly, I like the fact that you put sun rays around the Islamic symbol showing that you believe Islam is the only answer.
December 14th, 2006 at 2:27 am
This collage gave the impression that there is a lot of meaning to it. The main Islamic symbol in the middle of the page catches the eye and then you begin to look around and notice other things. The sun rays pouring over everything else was a great idea as Samim seems to display how his religion is on top of it all. He really does a great job expressing his belief in the importance of his religion in the world.
December 15th, 2006 at 1:50 am
Samim
I really like this collage because it truthfully represents who you are. The emphasis on religion over a certain nationality is a part of your belief and it is apparent throughout your collage. I really like the way you put everything together on the collage. The background of the Afghan Flag, the articles, and especially the Islamic message in the middle. It just stresses the significance of your collage and what should be recognized about it.
December 19th, 2006 at 1:49 pm
I was really impressed by the way it was set up graphically; it looks like it could be a real, well-designed flag (minus the clippings obviously). In addition, behind its nice appearance, the collage also carried a lot of meaning. The way you used the newspaper clippings really got your point across, especially how they were all from the same newspaper. It was great how you had the rays overlap them, representing the truth of Islam. I thought the sun, with the prayer in the middle, was a beautiful symbol.