Abdul Abdullah is an Australian artists who challenges the nationalism, attitudes and racism that is put upon him as a young Australian Muslim. His phtographs have the intentions to challenge and show his audiences that the political statement on how Australians view Muslims have changed since the attack on September 11th 2001 on the world trade centre. Due to the attack on the world trade centre  he is thought to be an ‘outsider amongst outsiders’, his practice is primarily concerned with the experience of the ‘other’ in society. After the attack it was a struggle for him to grow up as a Muslim, his parents were insulted because of their Islamic culture. For example, his mum got spat on outside just because she was wearing her islamic scarfs.  Abdullah’s projects have engaged with different marginalized minority groups and he is particularly interested in the experience of young Muslims in the contemporary multicultural Australian context.

 

His first photograph “Them and Us” shows his two nationalities that he was born with Muslim and Australian. The tattoo Abdul exhibits in the photographic work Them and Us, an emblem hybridizing the Southern Cross with the Crescent moon symbol of Islam is ironically juxtaposing and futhermore changes the codes of nationalism and masculinity which persuasively influences racist attitudes towards the ‘other’. His photograph focuses on his personal struggle in resolving how to be both a proud Muslim and a proud Australian, the two nationalities should not be mutually exclusive but should be in harmony and co-exists with each other. In many of his photographs he ironically juxtaposes Muslim religion to his Australian culture, he tries to put these concepts in his photographs by using signs and symbols for example the tattoos on his and his brother’s body with the crescent moon and the cross. They both tell us something he is not a Muslim or an Australian he is both Muslim and Australian. He is an Australian Muslim.