Stay Accountable to God, Not the State

Description

Stay Accountable to God Not the State is a print made in collaboration between HEART and Yasmeen Khayr as an honoring of HEART’s roots in Islamic values and their commitment to abolition in their approaches to reproductive care, sexual health, and challenging gender violence. Across their work, HEART upholds the importance of accountability in how we care for our bodies, how we question power and control within our relationships, and how we confront violence interpersonally and institutionally. This phrase “stay accountable to God not the state” is rooted in how we are resisting and abolishing systems of oppression and violence while grounding ourselves in Islamic values of compassion and justice. It is a reminder that, as Muslims, we are ultimately accountable to God alone and stand firm against violent systems attempting to control, dehumanize, and violate our communities. As we are moving through intense times of state-sanctioned violence, it is pivotal for us to ground ourselves in the values we align ourselves with and the forms of violent authority we resist. May this artwork be a form of remembrance of God in all our acts of care, resistance, and love for one another.

Yasmeen Khayr (she/her) is a Lebanese, Muslim artist based in Chicago, IL. She loves the use of art as a release of creative energy and emotion, and she is inspired by the power of communal art making and returning us to our innate creative selves. She plays with linoleum block printing, embroidery, painting, and the interplay between different mediums. Yasmeen is also a community-based researcher with the Center for Urban Research and Learning at Loyola and has collaborated on research with HEART, particularly exploring experiences of sexual violence among Muslim communities. Yasmeen is also currently pursuing a degree in Art Therapy.

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