Yunma Al-Arashi Image

Breaks away from the stereotype that Singaporean Indians are unathletic

– The person in the background looking at him, the one in the foreground is the centre of attention, he is a unique case.

– The light source behind him signifies the success following him, something which is viewed as uncommon for Indians in many sports

– The lens flare and minor reflections symbolise a glass cabinet. He is on ‘display’ as if he is a role model, something which others should strive for.

– He is looking away from the camera, not paying attention to onlookers and doubters.

– The opposition is an adult, showing that not only is he against the stereotype but is also capable of challenging those which other nationalities may also view as ‘beyond them’.

(Abhinav Gupta)

Home Fire and Yumna Al-Arashi

The book, Home Fire, portrays Muslims from the perspective of multiple communities, including, although not directly, the perception of the religion from a foreigners standpoint. Whereas Yunman Al-Arashi’s photos are purely depictions from her own/photographers perspective.

Throughout the entirety of Homefire, from all perspectives, Isma and Aneeka have been faced with discrimination. Displaying the universal perception which society has on the religion, however, Eamon, although not openly discriminative, shows a different side to the outsider perspective. He initially could not comprehend why Aneeka would wear a hijab despite the misfortune it brings, often those who are not discriminative are instead oblivious towards the religion’s practices. Kamila Shamsie uses this to highlight the challenge which the Muslim communities face, the sheer lack of understanding which in return causes a lack of empathy for those in the religion. Shamsie also explores the concepts of family, society’s perception of Muslim familial love is one where men are antagonised, and women are oppressed, however, in reality, Muslim families are very much the same as other families, as shown by Parvaiz’s initial depiction. This again relates to the lack of understanding in society.

Similarly, this lack of understanding is the very point which Yunma Al-Arashi is attempting to change, AL-Arashi’s photos use scenic images to juxtapose society’s perception of Muslim women, however, instead of sparking empathy, she is striving to change the direction of society’s empathy. In Al-Arashi’s perspective, Muslim women are most challenged by the stereotype regarding their ‘oppression’, similar to how Shamsie wants to stop baseless accusations, Al-Arashi wants to stop baseless pity. Muslim women are being regarded as weak due to a false stereotype. The concepts of loyalty are also evident in her images, her hardships can be resolved simply by wearing ordinary clothes, however, in all her images, she is wearing the full attire of an Islamic woman: conveying the idea that she is not wearing the clothing due to oppression, but instead, loyalty, and that she wishes to be judged by her individual self and not by her religion.

These two texts show us that, the challenges that the Muslim community face as a result of the disconnect between communities. The perception that many have on minorities are thus left to speculation and extreme cases, causing such groups to be labelled incorrectly.

Cas Reflection (Creativity)

The decision that our group collectively made was quite a success, there were a few problems regarding the kit but all were solved without much issue, the final ‘Sumo Robots’ which we produced were properly functioning and allowed us to ‘battle’ against one another; we were able to continue the project and achieve the goals of the activity, albeit with less of a challenge. Though I was not able to learn as much as I hoped due to the change of plans, through this activity I was able to gain some basic knowledge about coding and robotics, this caused me to gain further interest in these field. In the future, I hope to participate in more activities which can give me opportunities to learn more coding.