#FOTOSEPTIEMBRE 2022 Exhibition Documentation #RaminSamandari Faces Of Islam #DockSpaceGalleryAnnex #LoneStarArtsDistrict #SanAntonioTX

RAMIN SAMANDARI (San Antonio, TX)
Faces Of Islam
Dock Space Gallery Annex
107 Lone Star Boulevard, San Antonio, TX 78204
(210) 723-3048 | bill@billfitzgibbons.com
Ramin Samandari (210) 861-4325 | magicalrealismstudio@gmail.com

This project started in 2017, as a continuation of my prior series on Immigration that I began in 2016. Both of these projects are my response to the anti-immigrant and anti-Islamic rhetoric fostered by the 2016 presidential elections.

In Faces Of Islam, I portray the San Antonio Muslim community as a microcosm of the larger world of Muslims. I have photographed people of all walks of life, many of whom were transplanted to San Antonio from almost anywhere in the world. I wanted to show that these individuals living in our community are just like anyone else –they’re our neighbors, co-workers, classmates, etc. They just happen to practice Islam as their religion.

By the end of 2019, I had finished the series and was slated to be funded and permanently housed at the Institute of Texan Cultures. However the Covid-19 Pandemic changed all that. In 2021 I received an Individual Artist Grant from the City of San Antonio Department of Arts and Culture, which has enabled me to finally exhibit this series of portraits in our city.

•••

•••

•••