Dear everyone,
Alberta Akbar returned to Allah just hours ago. Her janaza (Islamic funeral prayer) will be held on Saturday, December 29th at 9am at Masjid Abdul Muhsi Khalifah. Masjid Abdul Muhsi Khalifa is located at 120 Madison Street Brooklyn, NY 11216.
I am saddened by Alberta's death, but death is the one certain event in all of our lives. When a Muslim dies we are saddened because we will miss their physical form, but happy that their spirit has been released from its physical restriction forever, and they will be meeting their Beloved. We are also prayerful that their Creator is pleased with them. This is why it is important that many people attend their janaza and pray for their safe passage into the next life.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
From Allah We Come and to Allah We Are All Returning
Monday, December 3, 2007
Friday, Dec. 7th 6-8pm: As the Veil Turns artist talk and video presentation
forward widely...
The Gallery at Harriet's Alter Ego proudly presents...
As the Veil Turns: An Artists Talk and Video Presentation with Nsenga Knight
Moderated by Eisa Nefertari Ulen
DATE: Friday, December 7th, 2007
TIME: 6-8pm
The Gallery at Harriet's Alter Ego
293 Flatbush Avenue
(between Prospect Place and St. Marks Place)
(718) 783-2074 - www.harrietsalteregoonline.com
Contact: Laylah@harrietsalteregoonline.com
Please join us for an evening with featured artist, Nsenga Knight, as she discusses her latest exhibition, As the Veil Turns: Female Pioneers of the American Muslim Community, with long-time journalist and novelist, Eisa Nefertari Ulen. There will also be a video presentation of As the Veil Turns, followed by a question and answer session.
About As the Veil Turns
Through photography, video, and oral history Nsenga Knight explores the spiritual and community lives of Black women who converted to Islam prior to 1975 and pioneered Brooklyn's oldest Muslim communities. As an interactive exhibition, As the Veil Turns grants its viewers access to the layered and historical, first hand accounts of these pioneering women.
About the Artist
Nsenga A. Knight earned a BA in Film from Howard University. As a lens-based artist, Nsenga's work oftentimes explores the ways people of African descent define and express themselves through the lens of Islam. Her work is introspective, and deals with personal realization, giving importance to ideas and images that are not usually given representation through any artistic medium. She has received grants from the Puffin Foundation LTD, Brooklyn Arts Council, New York State Council on the Arts Re-grant, and BAC NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Re-grant in support of her current work, As the Veil Turns ( http://www.astheveilturns.blogspot.com ). She is a founding member of the She Shootin' Photography Collective. Last year She Shootin' Photography Collective was awarded with the Brooklyn Historical Society Public Perspectives Award and Lily Auchincloss Foundation grant. She has exhibited at the Cannes Film Festival, Yale University Critical Islamic Reflections, Art Gotham in Chelsea, and the Brooklyn Public Library . She has held artist residencies at Film/ Video Arts and Working Playground, and is currently a BCAT/ Rotunda Gallery Multimedia Artist in Residence.
About the Moderator
Eisa Nefertari Ulen teaches English at Hunter College in New York City, and her essays have been widely anthologized. Nominated by Essence magazine for a National Association of Black Journalists Award, she has contributed to numerous other publications, including The Washington Post, Ms., Health, and CreativeNonfiction.org. She is the recipient of a Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center Fellowship for Young African American Fiction Writers and a Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center Fellowship. Eisa graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and earned a master's degree from Columbia University. She lives with her husband in Brooklyn. Her latest novel, Crystelle Mourning, is available at major bookstores.
As the Veil Turns: Female Pioneers of the American Muslim Community will be on view until December 31st, 2007.
Directions to The Gallery at Harriet's Alter Ego: Subway: 2 and 3 trains to Bergen and B or Q trains to 7th avenue.
Admission to the gallery is free open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 12-8pm and Sundays 12-6pm.
Thinking about Alberta
It's 1:26am. I'm here, at my home/ studio where I did much of the shooting for As the Veil Turns. I'm in a very contemplative, somber mood. I was in a class today about Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the man whom all the women in As the Veil Turns attest to as the the last messenger of God. During the class I got two phone calls, one from sister Maryam (who was interviewed and photographed for As the Veil Turns) and from another older sister in the community. I waited until after the class to listen to the two messages. Listening to the messages, I was filled with a sense of fear and sadness at the same time, "sister Alberta is in the hospital and gravely ill," said one message. Even as I am writing this, I'm shivering, just hoping that I can see her again. I called the sisters back to see what the message was all about, where sister Alberta is, and how I can see her. The news; Alberta is in a coma. It was almost 7pm and the hospital would stop visiting hours at 8pm. After my tears and information gathering, I left Manhattan to head back to Brooklyn to visit Alberta in the hospital. On my way in I see a family on there way out. Something told me they had been to see Alberta. The man walking through the hallway opens up a newspaper and looks at me, showing me the Daily news article about As the Veil Turns. You may not know this, but in my photo, it is Alberta's photo in the background. The man showing me the article is John, Alberta's son, whom she spoke so fondly of to me.
We meet and he offers to take me up to see Alberta. She is in a coma, paralyzed, not looking good in health. She had a 2nd major stroke. I talk to Alberta and pray for her. John keeps telling me how excited she was to be going to see As the Veil Turns, how she wouldn't allow him to take her because she knew I would. I had her on my mind so much and I was planning to call her to make arrangements to go to the show as soon as I got home.
The last time I was in a hospital was last year when Aliyah was on her deathbed. Standing there, next to sister Alberta in a coma, she looks just like Aliyah did last year when I visited her in the hospital.
John told me, 'I'm so glad you had the foresight, because we can't just let people go like that.' I can't. I'm still here just thinking... what a jewel. I stood there also thinking about how blessed I am to have met Alberta and how happy I am to know her and to share with her. She became like a friend to me. There is something I just like about sister Alberta so much. I just pray that whenever she goes, that she has completed her job here and that her Lord is pleased with her. I told Alberta that she will know all about the exhibition, even if I won't have the opportunity to take her there. I hope that when you see Alberta's photo, hear her interview, or watch her video, you pray for her and think well of her, knowing that you also have benefited from who she was. When I say that As the Veil Turns is really important for me to do and really urgent, well,yesterday was just another reminder to me. I'm so appreciative of the two sisters who called me to give me the opportunity to greet my sister Alberta with peace. It's 2:05 now. I ought to go to bed. Alberta was the first older sister I interviewed for As the Veil Turns. I never know the full significance of the situations I'm in or the people I meet. I followed my inspiration and it led me to Alberta. She is still with us right now. I hope to visit her again today.
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