Ala Buisir

Ala Buisir, Ireland

Teaghlach

 

This project documents Muslim families that have been in Ireland for more than 20 years. Teaghlach means family in Irish. Through her research, Ala found that there have been Muslims in Ireland since the 18th century but this has not been well documented. The only information available is that they were lecturers in some of the universities in Ireland. If you ask the Muslim community, however, they would say Muslims migrated to Ireland in the ’70s, as there is only one archival document that shows who established the local mosque at this time. Those who came in the 70’s were mostly students from Libya, South Africa, Iraq and Malaysia. Ala’s father was one of them. In the 80’s there were only 300 Muslims, 10,000 in the 90’s and now there are around 72,000 Muslims in Ireland. 

 

This project aims to show who these people/families are and how they impact Ireland. But also work as a way of archiving these families in Irish history. Photographing the family in front of their homes shows that they are settled. It’s the first action you take when moving to a country looking for a home to settle. The sketch and text come back from Islamic art and the importance of text to show that you come from an educational background. And the use of English shows that they are part of this country by knowing the language.

 

Ala is a visual artist/journalist. Born in Ireland with Libyan roots. A graduate with a BA in Photography from TU Dublin, and an MA in Journalism from DCU. She is currently doing a PhD by practice in UL. Her work documents the social and political tension around us today. The aim is to raise awareness by presenting events through different perspectives in hopes that it may also bring about change.

 

www.alabuisir.com