The Manrilla Blog | Life. Art. Religion. Culture.

It’s been one year since I started shooting, Philadelphian: The Low-Fi Shots Series, with my cellphone. It’s been an amazing project thus far. One of the main reasons is that it’s just not possible to do photography like this with a “normal” camera. People and society have come to “know” what a camera is and react in two ways: hostile or posed. I’m interested in neither. This series has allowed me to crawl into a social space that is worthy of examination: the quotidian existence of us all. Whether it be on a trolley headed home after a long day’s work or going to work early in the morning, still half asleep or comatose, this series shows us “as we are”. The black and white images allow me to peel back any exterior layers and reveal something more intimate. It is amusing when I get responses like, “you shot that on your cellphone? How?” The simple answer is it’s not the camera but rather the subject matter. To be fair, though, the cellphone camera allows me to photograph and yet not be recognized as a photographer. And no, the lens isn’t tack sharp. For me, it is akin to a Holga but I can still make phone calls with it! You simply have to embrace the limitations of the device as if they were advantages.

So stay tuned for more Low-Fi Shots. The series can be viewed here.

It was my supreme pleasure to play host to Charles for the past few days. My only regret is that it was far too short. I hope Charles can find his way back to Philly to visit again soon.

Charles is one of those rare creatures in which you can strike up any mode or subject of conversation with. From religion to politics, traveling, food - you name it. It has been such an unexpected joy to get a chance to see him. He looks good and is taking his condition well, with a spirit that is well-tempered. I have found a tremendous amount of inspiration just observing how he carries himself these days. I can only hope to match his temperament. I’ve included a couple of small shots from his visit. We all had a great time with you, Charles. Philly is all the more lonesome without you. Please grace us with your presence again.

One love little brother,

As of late, I have heard a tremendous talk about the State of Such-And-Such Islam; the State of Islam in America. The State of Blackamerican Islam and so forth. There has been majlis councils, shura councils, and every other kind of advisory board that one can shake a stick at. And yet, at the heart of many of these discussion that I have been privy to, none discuss matters of the heart. None discuss the lack of spiritual growth, that in my opinion, lies much closer to the root of the issues that are plaguing [if I may be so bold] and concerning Muslims all throughout America.

I have had a number of discussions lately with a few of my contemporaries, both Muslim and Christian, where we all displayed a general concern over the modern temperament of religious thought and dialog. In a recent conversation with another Blackamerican Muslim that I keep a correspondence with, he dismayed over how the Islam that he was handed has not played out to the Islam he was looking for. My accretion and addendum to his thought was that for many of us, and here I’m speaking as a middle 30’s Black male, we were in search of an identity and spirituality was not something that was on our radar. Consequently, the Islam that we were handed [or better yet, the Islam we handed ourselves] failed to have a prolonged shelf life. As we changed, it did not. In fact, change and mobility was never a part of the initial design concept, if you take my meaning. Instead of using Islam as a vehicle for moral and spiritual upliftment, instead it has been used as a means of justifying whatever idiosyncrasies we have; in our case [Blackamerican], it has been used to perpetuate a diseased mental state of no spiritual [and sometimes intellectual] growth. Get out of the ‘Hood? No! Instead, I will author a version of Islam that says I’m justified at being mad at Whitey and can stay stymied in poor economic, educational and health conditions. In other words, “It’s a Black Thang”.

But for me, the real loss here is not simply a lack of spirituality for the sake of itself but rather the shift of Islam [and for me, really, any religious tradition] from being God/Allah centered, to man centered. This may come as somewhat of a shock in that Islam prides itself as a religion where God is Central. All. One. And yet, so much of our quotidian religiosity is steeped in a man-centered ideology. I will try to illustrate some examples here. Make no mistake, I would not pretend to begrudge anyone coming from a Blackamerican background the resentment s/he may feel towards American society and how it has related or lack thereof, to Blacks. Institutionalized racism. Brutality. Unequal access to resources such as education, health care and wealth making opportunities. The list goes on. But by taking Islam and appropriating its religious and spiritual teachings solely to justify an existence that is based on the reaction to White fears, proclivities and injustices, woefully moves this mode of Islam from a God-centered religion to a man-centered. For who else should be alter our existence more for? Man? Or God? Allow me to tie this loop back in to my earlier statement. Read more this entry »

Some times the best images are those that are shot between friends where the atmosphere is relaxed and familiar. This was taken in the living room of a good friend of mine, Michael Moore. Michael and I attended photography school together and worked on many pieces with one another. He’s a good friend and I have fond memories of photographing him. I have routinely used this piece in my portfolio. Canon 10D, ISO 100. Strobe unit.

Retrospective?

As of late I have been given over to thoughts pertaining to Christianity and Christendom [definitions forthcoming] and how it has affected myself as well as society, in my opinion, on such topics as cosmology, God-concept and how we think about religion as a whole. These thoughts come from my thirty four years, sans three of four years of early childhood, in observance of how I have come to think of God as well as the many interactions and reactions that I have witnessed people have when conversing about God and religion.

First, I should introduce the notion of Christianity and Christendom as two very separate and distinct entities. One does not equate the other. In fact, I hope to point out some similarities between the evolution of Christendom out of Christianity and such neologisms as Islamic this or Islamic that [especially things like “Islamic society”, etc]. Recent research into early Christian Gnostic literature has shed an amazing amount of light on early notions of what constituted Christian belief, both in terms of exegesis and practice. This bears a striking resemblance to early Muslim thought regarding creed and practice as well. They both share a commonality that can best be summed up as “agree to disagree”. In other words, there was no single, overriding authority that could claim a hegemonic orthodoxy and excommunicate others as heretical. How funny it is that we should be living at a time when such early questions should come around again – what remains is how will we answer them. Shall we answer them as the Early Communities did, fostering a real sense of diversity or inclusion, or give way to narrow-minded viewpoints [yes, I am avoiding fundamentalist here as I believe this word has been striped of any linguistic meaning given the media’s indulgent misuse of it]. Time will tell. Read more this entry »

What would happen if I were to write down a collection of thoughts, a stream of concious as it were, from what I saw and what it made me think of? This is a short experiment in just that, from last Sunday while returning from the airport, iPod playing, and just soaking in the various scenes that played out before my eyes.

Fast food. Black folks. My folks. Over weight. My weight? Under educated. Under opportuned. Ambitionless. Is ambition a learned skill or bred in the bone? Tangier. Mojo. Jack. Yoga. Voodoo. Projection. Black suit. White shirt. Black tie. Empty street corner. A preacher? Repent! Standing in the shadow of our own light. Destinations. We’re never at our destinations because we’re waiting to go somewhere. Charles. Marion. Naeem. Khalifa. Charles. Anwar. The understanding of an Arab is in his yes. Hogwash. Bullshit. Layla Olupe. Faith. Practice. We have a saying: “If a man puts a cord around his neck, God will provide someone to pull it.” Remember that. I live an untempered life because I lost so much faith. Fe. Rah’bah. Figure she’s got a figure, boss? Jackson. November. Train’s here. Dude looks like ‘Tain Watts. 2-2-5-1-8, Tangier. Troma. Is it even appropriate? Told them about Charles - no response.

This is a collection of thoughts, sounds and scenes from September 30th, 2007. May try this again some day.

“I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so [locate the United States on a map] because uh, some people out there in our nation don’t have maps and I believe that our education like such as South Africa and uh, the Iraq everywhere like such as and I believe that they should our education over here! in the U.S. should help the U.S., should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for our children”. Lauren Caitlin Upton - Miss South Carolina.

I came to Philadelphia in 2002 with Dr. Sherman Jackson and a few other brothers from the Detroit area to “see what Philly was all about”. It was a week-long road trip to come out and see first-hand what the Muslim community was like. At that time, I had the feeling that there was a certain mystique about the Philly Muslim community. I was still residing in Detroit at this time and would have never thought I’d be living here in five years. This is the first of a few shots I took from that trip. Taken right outside the United Muslim Masjid, South Philly. Hasselblad 501 C/M, Ilford Delta Pro 100 ISO. Hand-held, available light.

Retrospective?