Saathi House x Amal

Islamic Art and Graffiti Project

Haseebah along with artist Katie O worked with Saathi house to create the Islamic Art and Graffiti workshop series and showcase . Funded by Amal as part of their Sight and Sound co-created project, Haseebah was chosen as the designated Islamic Art facilitator, whilst Katie was the Street Art facilitator. The project began in September 2022 with weekly sessions by Ali and O and concluded with the exhibition at Saathi House in December of that year.

Saathi house is a centre based in Aston that works to support women in driving positive change in their life and the local community. Amal is a funding organisation that works with Artists, muslim communities and art organisations to help support Muslims unleash their creative potential. The workshops in this series were a way for the women to connect to Islamic Art and contemporary street Art and express their creative identity on their own terms. The workshops focused on the basics of both mediums and how they could combine to create collaborative and individual artwork.

Activities during the project included tessellation, stencil making, gilding, street art typography and spray painting. The mural design shown in the garden of Saathi house drew on the geometric patterns the workshop participants saw in nature and Islamic Art whilst translating that through a Street Art outlet. As well as the mural, the ladies also created their own canvas using Islamic Art elements and spray paint which was exhibited in the showcase.