Portraits honour victims 5 years on
Paintings of six men will be hung on the walls of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City
When artist Aquil Virani asked Khaled Belkacemi’s family for their favourite photo of him, it was a simple image of Belkacemi at a conference. The university professor leaned forward wearing a tie and a name tag and smiled for the photo taken in October 2016, just a few months before he died.
Virani turned the serene image into one of six paintings of each of the men killed, as their families remember them.
Saturday marks five years since Belkacemi, Ibrahima Barry, Mamadou Tanou Barry, Abdelkrim Hassane, Azzedine Soufiane and Aboubaker Thabti, had their lives taken in the Quebec City mosque attack on Jan. 29, 2017.
In commemoration, their smiling faces will hang from the walls of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City in individual portraits by Muslim visual artist Virani, which will later be presented to each family.
“It’s so important to me that, if the families are ready, we show the faces … We show a smiling man. We show them as people … as fully fledged human beings, with lives,” Vrani told the Star.
The project started in 2018 when Belkacemi’s widow inquired through a mutual friend about having a portrait painted of her late husband.
Virani was able to correspond with the rest of the surviving families, explain the idea and show examples of his work. When they agreed to participate, each of them sent their favourite photo of their loved one.
Over the next few years, Virani crouched over canvases on the floor of his Toronto apartment and used acrylic and spray paint, rendering each of the men in front of a garden-like yellow-and-green patterned background. Yellow for him is a colour of hope, and the shade of green he chose is often present in Islam.
Virani calls the art series a small gesture, but one that shows wide community support. Silk Road Institute, an organization that supports Muslim artists, and TakingITGlobal, a youth non-profit, provided grants to help fund the series.
“By capturing each of (the men) individually, in a portrait, we speak to their individuality, but, at the same time, it also is a way for us as communities and as a country to remember their story. Which is part of Canada’s story,” said Mohamed Shaheen, Silk Road’s board chair and artistic director.
Amira Bahmed, a friend of Virani, grew up in Quebec City and, along with her mother Zébida, was instrumental in making connections with the families.
When the first piece was done, Bahmed and Virani visited the Belkacemis to show them the finished work.
“Seeing a big portrait … it’s kind of a statement that we will not forget about you,” said Bahmed.
With Virani’s portraits, in particular, she said a unique kind of energy comes through. “You can feel the person. You can feel the happiness, the sadness, the peaceful mind of the person. It’s not just a portrait, there’s something more,” she said.
Bahmed now lives in Montreal, but she grew up in Quebec City, and, when she visits, she feels a lingering sadness.
“You kind of feel that something left this day on the 29th,” she said. “We’re just trying little things here, because we can’t bring them back, right?”
The shooting carried out by Alexandre Bissonnette remains the one of the deadliest mass shootings in Canadian history and evidence of Islamophobia and white nationalism that has continued in this country.
On the fourth anniversary in 2021, Jan. 29 was declared a day of remembrance and action on Islamophobia.
Just six months later, in June 2021, four members of the Afzaal family were killed when a driver hit the family of five who were out for a walk in London, Ont.
With acts of violence against its members continuing, the community says more needs to be done.
“What other evidence do we need that Islamophobia has reached deadly proportions in Canada, and that there needs to be a concrete plan of action?” said Jasmin Zine, a professor researching Islamophobia at Wilfrid Laurier University.
The tragedy in London prompted the federal government to organize a summit on Islamophobia six weeks later, but many were skeptical about how it would lead to action.
As Quebec’s Bill 21 successfully banned public servants from wearing religious symbols, Muslim women who wear the hijab have been particularly affected.
It has left people such as Zine asking, what will the government do to combat Islamophobia?
“What assurances are they giving the Muslim community that there is going to be some dedicated action?” Zine said to the Star.
She said this should include “a critical reflection on how state policies and practises in this country contribute, and actually actively pervade Islamophobia.”
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It’s so important to me that, if the families are ready, we show the faces … We show a smiling man.
AQUIL VIRANI ARTIST