Stopover in America
Notions of colorism, racial stereotyping; all that alienates by brownness is Muslim. Flying while Muslim since the early 2000s has always been complicated. Muslim and arab stereotypes of being synonymous with terrorism and the perceived danger(s) of the Middle East and Arab world has inextricably affected brown people. Whether you are actually Muslim or not is not the issue but rather your brownness and thus Otherness that is fear-inducing.
Stopover in America attempts to, through employing non-stereotypical- and stereotypical-looking muslim and non-muslim models to perform the role of a celebrity at the airport, act as a reversal of this phenomenon. The media’s overzealous depiction of terrorism and Muslims hinges on preposterous narratives in the same manner the media treats celebrities. These photos are a reclamation of identity and also a symbol of the stuckness of being a brown person in the West.
Direction: Zaheen Rahman
Photography: Tobi Arubuola, Clarence Lovett (Secondary)
Stylists: Kate Dalrymple, Shakir Choudhury, Amir Dominguez, Kevin Huang, Zaheen Rahman
Models: Amir Dominguez, Shakir Choudhury, Jenny Sanchez, Allison Chorath, Yami, Zaheen Rahman
Shoot Assistants: Kate Dalrymple, Kevin Huang
Editing: Zaheen Rahman
