How We Were After the Storm

by Corey Habbas

Title

How We Were After the Storm

Artist

Corey Habbas

Medium

Painting - Mixed Media On Canvas

Description

The faint etching of funnels spiral gently into the sky. The strange gold within the ether mixes upward into the air. One man has access to walk over the river via a silver-lined bridge. Another man must walk beneath, using the water as his path. The setting sun casts a long shadow of the man beneath the bridge. The man slouches as he walks through the humbling difficulty.


When I was working on the piece I was contemplating my experiences with prejudice and social exclusion in hijab as well as witnessing the even more harsh and overt prejudice that my women friends of color would in hijab would experience in their daily lives.

It was a surreal feeling for me , feeling the prejudice from my mainstream society and that I had the white privilege even in hijab. So much to learn and think about from these experiences for me.

The people in this work of art are generalized, as alienation caused by exclusion can involve anyone, but the main take-away for me is that prejudice harms minority populations more than prejudice harms prejudice that is aimed at someone in the majority population (although no prejudice is productive or healing). Those who fit into the mainstream have options and places to go and alternatives, but when a minority population is dealing with prejudice against the majority, finding advocates, supporters and sponsors can be like finding a needle in a haystack, and can leave people feeling very isolated and vulnerable and afraid to take steps outward for fear of being rejected or attacked.

My heart goes out to anyone who has struggled with having prejudice directed at them due to their perceived difference. It is a deeply felt struggle and the affects can be generational.

Uploaded

January 12th, 2015

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