“Kweerz Maro Min Hona” (Queers Were Here): A Muslim Visibility Project
The exhibit: Kweerz Maro Min Hona (Queers Were Here): A Muslim Visibility Project, by queer Arab Muslim educator and visual artist YA SHOOSH (Shereen Masoud-Jointe) opened on April 6, 2019. Queers Were Here provided representation to LGBTQ+ Muslims and sparked dialogue about the complexities of LBGTQ+ experiences. Centered around the stories of queer, trans, and GNC Muslims, it was displayed as a mixed media portrait exhibition in the gallery for 6 weeks. The opening night of the exhibit featured a panel and Q&A with LGBTQ+ Philadelphia area Muslims as well as a performance by a local queer Muslim poet. The series is currently being digitized and will feature more stories online in 2020.
About the artist: YA SHOOSH received a Leeway Foundation Art and Change grant to curate the project, traveling to California, New York, Miami, Denver, Michigan, Oslo, Toronto, Berlin, and New Zealand to meet and interview subjects. "This project is deeply personal in that it is a reflection of the stories I wish a younger me could have heard, when I couldn't fathom the possibility of manifesting my full self,” says YA SHOOSH. “It has been a tremendous privilege to be able to collect and tell the narratives of people from a community too often silenced and erased, and to honor the complexities of our experiences."
