To Believe In:

To Believe In is a visual exploration and celebration of Islam and Muslim women. Having been raised as a Muslim British Pakistani girl, I found myself not wanting to be seen as a muslim due to how they were perceived by society and many negative experiences I went through for simply existing in that space as a Muslim woman. It was only as I got older and I leaned more heavily into my faith, that I realised that there is nothing to be ashamed of; that it was the way in which others perceived us that was truly the issue.

I made this work to challenge the notion of stereotypes that Muslim women face, through a series of portraits that celebrated them. I photographed an array of Muslim women and a religious household object. Each woman was asked the same question and asked them to answer with only one word.

“What does your faith mean to you?”