The National - News

A DIFFERENT KIND OF EXPOSURE

▶ Linda Barnard speaks to photograph­er Alia Youssef about altering the negative stereotype of Muslim women through positive, powerful images

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How do you spot a Canadian-Muslim woman? Through 23-year-old Egyptian-Canadian portrait photograph­er and storytelle­r Alia Youssef, she’s the person standing confidentl­y next to her motorcycle wearing a purple hijab. She’s seated at the microphone ready to go on the air for Canada’s national broadcaste­r. She’s a police officer, educator, or a smiling food blogger in her kitchen with her young children.

Youssef’s ever-expanding photograph­y series, The Sisters Project, responds to negative stereotype­s with positive images of Muslim women being themselves, telling their stories in places across Canada where they feel most comfortabl­e.

Since she began this project in December 2016, Youssef has photograph­ed 160 women in eight Canadian provinces, including 85 she profiled during a recent summer-long, cross-country tour.

The women were found through social media searches and enthusiast­s sharing among communitie­s. The portraits were taken in places that have meaning to the subjects, and are accompanie­d by a brief story about “what these women do, what they believe in, what they care about,” the photograph­er explains. Each Wednesday, she posts a new photo and story on her Instagram feed (@the.sisters.project), as well as on the blog on her website, aliayousse­f.com. She recently held her first exhibition from the project at Ryerson University in Toronto, where she’s studying for her master’s degree in documentar­y media.

Youssef began the project after becoming “fed-up with an image that gets repeated over and over again”, one that shows Muslim women as somehow sad, repressed or unable to express themselves. She was dishearten­ed that Google image searches turned up little beyond close-up shots of sad-eyed women in black niqabs. That’s changed recently, thanks in part to

Youssef fights the representa­tion of Muslim women as sad, repressed and unable to express themselves

photograph­ers, including Youssef, who contribute­d to a MuslimGirl.com project to provide diverse, positive and colourful stock photograph­s of Muslim women for Getty Images.

“In Canada, we grow up knowing what the tropes are, knowing what the stereotype­s are,” Youssef says of the experience shared by many Canadian-Muslim women, especially those who choose to wear a hijab. “I feel like not only myself, but many Muslim women whom I interviewe­d feel this burden or this pressure to defy the stereotype, and so I think it makes sense I would use photograph­y, that my art would go to this topic. I feel like this is a topic that is long overdue in addressing.”

Youssef, who was born in Britain to an English mother and an Egyptian father, lived in Egypt as a child. At age 8, the family immigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, on Canada’s west coast. An avid photograph­er from the moment she picked up a point-and-shoot camera at age 14, she was soon photograph­ing birthday parties and weddings for family friends. Encouraged by a high-school teacher to enter local youth photograph­y contests, she was soon winning prizes. One of those was for her project on perception­s around the representa­tion of Muslim women: The Way You See Me/The Way I See Me.

“I used two very different pictures of a Muslim woman – one was a seemingly oppressed woman and one was a happy, colourful picture,” explains Youssef. “And that was me at 15, just starting off. I think it was great that I was thinking about it.”

In The Sisters Project, each mini-profile finishes with a Q&A where the subject is asked: “What is your proudest accomplish­ment” or “What’s your biggest hope?” The answers are revealing, powerful and often charged with emotion. For example, Lila, a 40-year-old police officer specialisi­ng in race relations in Ottawa, was asked how she wants to be perceived. She replied: “As a strong Muslim woman who breaks stereotype­s and as a role model to the younger generation of girls who want to be police officers.”

While Youssef’s blog has followers in the United Kingdom and United States, she has no plans to go further afield with The Sisters Project, preferring to continue to focus on Canadian women. She sees a universali­ty to the work that goes beyond borders and even religion.

“It’s a project for all women and everyone to learn something from, even if they’re not Muslim,” she says. “It’s a way for us all to get to know each other.”

To see more of the Youssef’s works, visit aliayousse­f.com

 ??  ?? Sura, 41, a dentist in Halifax
Sura, 41, a dentist in Halifax
 ??  ?? Mehnaz, 21, a Bachelor of Science student in Toronto
Mehnaz, 21, a Bachelor of Science student in Toronto
 ??  ?? Rudayna in Toronto. She works for organisati­ons that address discrimina­tion in Canada Alia Youssef, creator of The Sisters Project
Rudayna in Toronto. She works for organisati­ons that address discrimina­tion in Canada Alia Youssef, creator of The Sisters Project
 ??  ?? Asalah, a 15-year-old community advocate in Vancouver
Asalah, a 15-year-old community advocate in Vancouver
 ??  ?? Randa, 20, a Kinesiolog­ist in Toronto Taekwondo instructor Rayah, 28, lives in Vancouver Ayaan, a full-time student in Toronto who volunteers often
Randa, 20, a Kinesiolog­ist in Toronto Taekwondo instructor Rayah, 28, lives in Vancouver Ayaan, a full-time student in Toronto who volunteers often
 ??  ?? Faye, 29, a tattoo artist in Vancouver
Faye, 29, a tattoo artist in Vancouver
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