Photographer Combats Trumps Islamophobia With Stunning Portrait Series
These young Muslims offer a vibrant portrait of America’s future.
11/22/2016 01:12 pm ET
You could turn on the television and watch President-elect Donald Trump or one of his right-hand men tell you about Islam. Or, as photographer Mark Bennington did, you could sit down with some of the three million Muslims in America and get to know them that way, instead.
In a new series entitled “America 2.0,” Bennington features photos and stories of Muslim young adults in New York City. These young people, he said, are a crucial contingent of the next generation of American leaders ― and their stories need to be heard.
“Now more than ever, we, as the American public, are faced with images and propaganda of ‘the other’ – be it Muslims, Mexican immigrants, the African-American community, the LGBTQ community, the list goes on,” Bennington said in an email to The Huffington Post. “I found this to be a crucial time to start a project that focused on the everyday – what do ordinary lives and aspirations look like?”
Bennington shot the series between July and October, asking each of the subjects questions about their daily lives ― topics like school, friends, dating, music and more. The conversations frequently veered to the subject of identity formation, he said, including what’s been going on in the political arena over the last year’s election cycle.
“I love life, but as an American citizen, I have never been so disappointed in America,” Mosammet, a 17-year-old who participated in the series, told Bennington.
More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/photographer-combats-trumps-islamophobia-with-stunning-portrait-series_us_58337991e4b099512f846187
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