Portraits of Americans Who Have Converted to Islam

Boston-based photographer Claire Beckett‘s The Converts is a series of portraits of individuals who have converted to Islam. A mix of recent converts and long-time practicing Muslims, Beckett says her subjects are predominantly American with the exception of a couple who have immigrated to the U.S. Beckett explores the relationship between the American and Muslim world, asking the questions, “What does it mean to be an American? Who are we as a people, and how do we define ourselves? How do we understand our country in relation to other nations and cultures?” She asks these questions within a society that has constructed the American and Muslim as opposites, interested in the experiences of those who “have traversed this imagined line.”

I found this article interesting given that I'm exploring my own culture and religion and kind of beginning to see the contrast between being an American and a Latin-American and Catholic. It's interesting to see that we continue to give ourselves titles in order to define who we are as people in the first place, when in most cases we try to free ourselves from titles like latin, black, white, girl, boy, man, woman and yet we need these titles in order to find our identities different from one another. I for one hate to be called something that I'm not owning myself - like a bitch or feminist, but yet I still find myself playing those roles once in a while. I enjoyed Beckett's style in portraiture and seeing the entire figure and dress of the people photographed. Seeing them in their own setting lead me to get a much deeper insight into who they are individually as humans and specifically as a Muslim.