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Muslim artist in Halifax using pottery to fight Islamophobia
6-27-2018
A Muslim artist living in Halifax is turning his own experience of Islamophobia into pieces of art that express how Muslims are adapting in the current socio-political climate.
Kaashif Ghanie is a first-generation Muslim Guyanese-Canadian whose ceramic work is being showcased at his third solo exhibition called Adaptation.
"I hope to make people more aware about Islamophobia and realize that brothers and sisters do get scarred," said Ghanie, who graduated from NSCAD University with a bachelor of fine arts in 2015
A symbol of survival
Ghanie is adapting the surfaces with mutations, that look like wounds, to embody the discrimination Muslims face in Canada.
"I was thinking about the idea of mutation and how mutations can adapt, so by representing the human body as vessel, I showed how human beings can survive in hard times," said Ghanie, who creates his works in the Centre for Craft Nova Scotia.
In the Islamic tradition, making ceramic pottery is considered a sacred art and a way of expressing the soul. Traditionally, the pots are decorated with sacred names or natural scenes, but Ghanie is giving this old tradition a new face.
Experiencing Islamophobia
At the exhibition, there are five vessels, with the largest being more than a metre tall. One of the pots is called That One and is decorated with holes that cast shadows inside.
"More than once I have been referred to as "that one," a phrase reducing me to the object and the other," said Ghanie, who has these words written next to the piece.
"The lattice holes in this albarello shows the inability to contain hurtful comments," he added. "Eventually those memories slowly stream out, exposing the internal struggle of someone marked by the words of others."
The other four vessels are called Man Up, Armour, Ointment and All Eyes on Me. They are about how hard it is to be raised Muslim after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in New York.
Finding inspiration and meaning
The style of the pots has been inspired by Middle Eastern and Andalusian vessels and the stories behind them, which Ghanie has been studying for nearly five years.
"At the time of the Prophet, the pots were meant to hold women's tears and the women would keep these special tears until their husbands would come back from war and that's very interesting to me," he said.
Ghanie said that Islamic pots are traditionally small in size, but he chose to make his very large to "command presence" in the room.
 "I don't want these pieces to go overlooked," he said.
The vessels can be viewed at Hermes, an art gallery in Halifax, and will be available until June 24. The exhibition is funded by the Arts Equity Funding Initiative from Arts Nova Scotia.
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