About
I am a Muslim woman ceramic artist who creates abstract Islamic sculpture. My work is an expression of joy in my Muslim identity and resistance to anti-Muslim bigotry. My love of clay is rooted in the Quran which says we are made from it, a material that embodies our humanity. I create abstract sculpture to express my own unique interpretation of the themes in my work, expanding the canon of what we typically associate with Islamic art.
I ritualistically sculpt vessels as dhikr, an Islamic practice of repeatedly reciting a word or phrase to elicit a spiritual connection to the Divine. Dhikr means remembrance and my sculptures serve as visual reminders of universal truths like love, transformation, justice, creation, and the everyday miracles of our existence.
I use atmospheric firing methods to capture distinctive and irreproducible markings that individuate each vessel as part of a unified whole, reflecting the Islamic principle of tawhid, the diversity of all encapsulated in the One. Many of my installations include 99 unique objects to represent the 99 Names of God as microcosms of the macrocosm.
I am the creator of 99 Clay Vessels: The Muslim Women Storytelling Project (99clayvessels.com), inspired by 99 clay vessels I sculpted to represent the 99 names of God in Islam during a crushing experience of anti-Muslim bigotry. Just as the 99 clay vessels held me during a difficult time, I wanted to create space for Muslim women to share their own challenging experiences as well as their powerful tools of resilience. From May 2021-December 2022, during a global pandemic, 99 Muslim women completed an online retreat and then created a piece of art to share a snapshot of their experience.
In 2024, I received a Multicultural Fellowship from the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA). I was named a Visionary of Craft in the summer 2022 edition of American Craft Magazine of the American Craft Council. I was a resident artist at Red Dirt Studio in Mt Rainier, MD from 2020-2022 and a Bresler Fellow at VisArts in Rockville, MD in summer 2022, culminating in my first solo art show at VisArts in January 2023.
My work has been supported by generous funders including The Henry Luce Foundation, the Islamic Studies Center at Duke University, Austelle Foundation, Robert W. Deutsch Foundation, Virginia Humanities, Waraich Family Fund, Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, Sarah S. Alfadl, California Charitable Foundation, Betty Lee & Dudley P. Digges Memorial Fund, Emergent Fund, and more.
Before being a full-time artist, I was a social justice educator for over 20 years, writing curricula and teaching U.S., world, and Islamic history. I was the Director of the Challenge Islamophobia Project at Teaching for Change, where I wrote a curriculum on anti-Muslim bigotry and taught it to teachers throughout the country. I was also a fundraiser who raised $15 million over three years to support activists fighting the criminalization and dehumanization of Muslims and other communities as justification for the Global War on Terror.
Residencies, Awards & Grants
Multicultural Fellowship, National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (2024).
Member, Alexandria Clay Co-Op, Alexandria, VA (2023-2024).
Bresler Fellow, VisArts, Rockville, MD (2022).
Visionary of Craft, American Craft Magazine, American Craft Council (2022).
Grants for socially engaged art awarded from The Henry Luce Foundation, the Islamic Studies Center at Duke University, Austelle Foundation, Robert W. Deutsch Foundation, Virginia Humanities, Waraich Family Fund, Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, Sarah S. Alfadl and Prince George’s County Arts & Humanities Council (2021-2022).
Resident Artist, Red Dirt Studio, Mt, Rainier, MD (2020-2022).
Socially Engaged Art Projects & Maker Workshops
Al Haq: A Vessel to Hold Your Truth: A Maker Workshop. Towson University, Department of Art and Design, Towson, MD (2023).
99 Clay Vessels: The Muslim Women Storytelling Project, online exhibition & archive (2021-2022).
Alternative 9/11 Memorial: Twenty Years Later, Private residence, Baltimore, MD (2021).
Alternative 9/11 Memorial Feedback Session & Maker Workshop, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD (2021).
Amulets, Islam, and Memory: Channeling Power in Times of Great Need: A Maker Workshop, Phillips Collection, Washington, DC (2020).
Exhibitions
Garden Reverie, group exhibition juried by Leigh Taylor Mickelson, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD (2025).
DC Art Now, group juried exhibition, DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, Washington, DC (2024).
ISMS: Narratives, Issues, and Difficult Topics of Our Times, group exhibition juried by Kyle & Kelly Phelps, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD (2024).
God is Beautiful & Loves Beauty: Three Muslim Women Artists of the DMV, group exhibition, Glen Echo Park Popcorn Gallery, Glen Echo, MD (2024).
Intersection: Identity & Culture, group exhibition juried by Fabiola R. Delgado, Falls Church Arts, Falls Church, VA (2023).
Art, Islam, and Activism: Works in Progress, solo art exhibition, VisArts, Rockville, MD (2023).
99 Clay Vessels: The Muslim Women Storytelling Project, group virtual exhibition (2021).
8th Annual Alchemical Vessel Exhibition: Silver Linings, group invitational, Smith Center for Healing Arts, Washington, DC (2021).
(In)Touch: Connectivity Through Clay, group exhibition curated by Margaret Boozer, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD (2021).
Call and Response: Craft as a Tool of Activism, Group virtual exhibition juried by Glenn Adamson, Ebitenyefa Baralaye, and Nate Watson, Museum of Craft & Design, San Francisco, CA (2021).
Curation
God is Beautiful & Loves Beauty: Three Muslim Women Artists of the DMV, Co-curator with Laura Roulet, Group exhibition, Glen Echo Park Popcorn Gallery, Glen Echo, MD (2024).
Media & Lectures
Facilitator. “What is Islamophobia?” Critical Professional Development (CPD) Speaker Series, Dr. Porter Lee Troutman, Jr. Center for Multicultural Education, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (2024).
Panelist. “Spiritual Innovators.” Chaplaincy Innovation Lab, Union Theological Seminary (2024).
Panelist. “God is Beautiful & Loves Beauty: Three Muslim Women Artists of the DMV,” virtual artist talk, Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture (2024).
Trainer. “What is Islamophobia?” Relay University virtual workshop (2023).
Facilitator. Palestine Teach-In. Red Dirt Studio, Mt. Rainier, MD (2023).
Interviewee. “99 Clay Vessels: The Muslim Women Storytelling Project,” Glen Arbor Arts Center, Glen Arbor, MI (2022).
Author. “99 Clay Vessels: The Muslim Women Storytelling Project,” MuslimMatters.org (2022).
Facilitator. “What is Islamophobia?” Muslims in Brooklyn Teacher Virtual Workshop at Brooklyn Historical Society (2021).
Lecturer. “Learning Together on the 9/11 Anniversary.” Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, Washington, DC (2021).
Artist facilitator. “99 Clay Vessels: A Maker Workshop.” Duke University Arts Department, Durham, NC (2021).
Lecturer. “99 Clay Vessels: The Muslim Women Storytelling Project.” John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University, Durham, NC (2021).
Interviewee. “99 Clay Vessels: The Muslim Women Storytelling Project..” Lunch & Learn Video Series, Karamah: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights, Washington, DC (2021).
Author. “Cultivating Community, Collaboration, and Connection During Covid,” Phillips Collection blog, Experiment Station (2020).
About
I am a Muslim woman ceramic artist who creates abstract Islamic sculpture. My work is an expression of joy in my Muslim identity and resistance to anti-Muslim bigotry. My love of clay is rooted in the Quran which says we are made from it, a material that embodies our humanity. I create abstract sculpture to express my own unique interpretation of the themes in my work, expanding the canon of what we typically associate with Islamic art.
I ritualistically sculpt vessels as dhikr, an Islamic practice of repeatedly reciting a word or phrase to elicit a spiritual connection to the Divine. Dhikr means remembrance and my sculptures serve as visual reminders of universal truths like love, transformation, justice, creation, and the everyday miracles of our existence.
I use atmospheric firing methods to capture distinctive and irreproducible markings that individuate each vessel as part of a unified whole, reflecting the Islamic principle of tawhid, the diversity of all encapsulated in the One. Many of my installations include 99 unique objects to represent the 99 Names of God as microcosms of the macrocosm.
I am the creator of 99 Clay Vessels: The Muslim Women Storytelling Project (99clayvessels.com), inspired by 99 clay vessels I sculpted to represent the 99 names of God in Islam during a crushing experience of anti-Muslim bigotry. Just as the 99 clay vessels held me during a difficult time, I wanted to create space for Muslim women to share their own challenging experiences as well as their powerful tools of resilience. From May 2021-December 2022, during a global pandemic, 99 Muslim women completed an online retreat and then created a piece of art to share a snapshot of their experience.
In 2024, I received a Multicultural Fellowship from the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA). I was named a Visionary of Craft in the summer 2022 edition of American Craft Magazine of the American Craft Council. I was a resident artist at Red Dirt Studio in Mt Rainier, MD from 2020-2022 and a Bresler Fellow at VisArts in Rockville, MD in summer 2022, culminating in my first solo art show at VisArts in January 2023.
My work has been supported by generous funders including The Henry Luce Foundation, the Islamic Studies Center at Duke University, Austelle Foundation, Robert W. Deutsch Foundation, Virginia Humanities, Waraich Family Fund, Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, Sarah S. Alfadl, California Charitable Foundation, Betty Lee & Dudley P. Digges Memorial Fund, Emergent Fund, and more.
Before being a full-time artist, I was a social justice educator for over 20 years, writing curricula and teaching U.S., world, and Islamic history. I was the Director of the Challenge Islamophobia Project at Teaching for Change, where I wrote a curriculum on anti-Muslim bigotry and taught it to teachers throughout the country. I was also a fundraiser who raised $15 million over three years to support activists fighting the criminalization and dehumanization of Muslims and other communities as justification for the Global War on Terror.
Residencies, Awards & Grants
Multicultural Fellowship, National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (2024).
Member, Alexandria Clay Co-Op, Alexandria, VA (2023-2024).
Bresler Fellow, VisArts, Rockville, MD (2022).
Visionary of Craft, American Craft Magazine, American Craft Council (2022).
Grants for socially engaged art awarded from The Henry Luce Foundation, the Islamic Studies Center at Duke University, Austelle Foundation, Robert W. Deutsch Foundation, Virginia Humanities, Waraich Family Fund, Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, Sarah S. Alfadl and Prince George’s County Arts & Humanities Council (2021-2022).
Resident Artist, Red Dirt Studio, Mt, Rainier, MD (2020-2022).
Socially Engaged Art Projects & Maker Workshops
Al Haq: A Vessel to Hold Your Truth: A Maker Workshop. Towson University, Department of Art and Design, Towson, MD (2023).
99 Clay Vessels: The Muslim Women Storytelling Project, online exhibition & archive (2021-2022).
Alternative 9/11 Memorial: Twenty Years Later, Private residence, Baltimore, MD (2021).
Alternative 9/11 Memorial Feedback Session & Maker Workshop, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD (2021).
Amulets, Islam, and Memory: Channeling Power in Times of Great Need: A Maker Workshop, Phillips Collection, Washington, DC (2020).
Exhibitions
Garden Reverie, group exhibition juried by Leigh Taylor Mickelson, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD (2025).
DC Art Now, group juried exhibition, DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, Washington, DC (2024).
ISMS: Narratives, Issues, and Difficult Topics of Our Times, group exhibition juried by Kyle & Kelly Phelps, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD (2024).
God is Beautiful & Loves Beauty: Three Muslim Women Artists of the DMV, group exhibition, Glen Echo Park Popcorn Gallery, Glen Echo, MD (2024)
Intersection: Identity & Culture, group exhibition juried by Fabiola R. Delgado, Falls Church Arts, Falls Church, VA (2023).
Art, Islam, and Activism: Works in Progress, solo art exhibition, VisArts, Rockville, MD (2023).
99 Clay Vessels: The Muslim Women Storytelling Project, group virtual exhibition (2021).
8th Annual Alchemical Vessel Exhibition: Silver Linings, group invitational, Smith Center for Healing Arts, Washington, DC (2021).
(In)Touch: Connectivity Through Clay, group exhibition curated by Margaret Boozer, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD (2021).
Call and Response: Craft as a Tool of Activism, group virtual exhibition juried by Glenn Adamson, Ebitenyefa Baralaye, and Nate Watson, Museum of Craft & Design, San Francisco, CA (2021).
Curation
God is Beautiful & Loves Beauty: Three Muslim Women Artists of the DMV, Co-curator with Laura Roulet, Group exhibition, Glen Echo Park Popcorn Gallery, Glen Echo, MD (2024).
Media & Lectures
Facilitator. “What is Islamophobia?” Critical Professional Development (CPD) Speaker Series, Dr. Porter Lee Troutman, Jr. Center for Multicultural Education, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (2024).
Panelist. “Spiritual Innovators.” Chaplaincy Innovation Lab, Union Theological Seminary (2024).
Panelist. “God is Beautiful & Loves Beauty: Three Muslim Women Artists of the DMV,” virtual artist talk, Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture (2024).
Trainer. “What is Islamophobia?” Relay University virtual workshop (2023).
Facilitator. Palestine Teach-In. Red Dirt Studio, Mt. Rainier, MD (2023).
Interviewee. “99 Clay Vessels: The Muslim Women Storytelling Project,” Glen Arbor Arts Center, Glen Arbor, MI (2022).
Author. “99 Clay Vessels: The Muslim Women Storytelling Project,” MuslimMatters.org (2022).
Facilitator. “What is Islamophobia?” Muslims in Brooklyn Teacher Virtual Workshop at Brooklyn Historical Society (2021).
Lecturer. “Learning Together on the 9/11 Anniversary.” Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, Washington, DC (2021).
Artist facilitator. “99 Clay Vessels: A Maker Workshop.” Duke University Arts Department, Durham, NC (2021).
Lecturer. “99 Clay Vessels: The Muslim Women Storytelling Project.” John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University, Durham, NC (2021).
Interviewee. “99 Clay Vessels: The Muslim Women Storytelling Project..” Lunch & Learn Video Series, Karamah: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights, Washington, DC (2021).
Author. “Cultivating Community, Collaboration, and Connection During Covid,” Phillips Collection blog, Experiment Station (2020).