The Essop brothers question the implications of Western imagery depicting Muslim identity. In response they have developed a reply that uses self-representation and stereotypes. The twins’ exploration questions religion within a consumerist society. John Fleetwood POWER PLAY—HALAAL ART Our series of work highlights a clash between religion and popular cultures. We explore the dominating influence of Western theatrics and their narratives that are constructed to depict a certain reality. Inspired by Hollywood’s visual language and tactics, we create our own narratives. Each photograph reflects one another in a battle for the moral and immoral. Two dominant personalities appear, East and West, with all their stereotypes. The environments we choose define our behaviour, using it as a stage to perform. Several characters may appear repeatedly as it is our own clothing being used. Those clothed in Islamic wear are aggressive but humble in their quest, popular fashion attacking our beliefs. The pit bull demonstrates loyalty but no sense of reason. Similarily, soldiers in war portray a patriotic commitment for their country. The series then explores our preoccupation with the role of the individual in society, in particular the space that Muslim youth must negotiate in a secular society. Inspired by our experiences abroad, the images depict us in various carefully staged locations and poses in Havana, Hamburg and Cape Town. The thread that ties the images together: in Islam, the rendering of the human form is considered ‘Haram’ or forbidden, and as the artists we chose to limit this to our own bodies and bear this responsibility. The questions we ask are personal and intimate, performing these questions with our own bodies. The photographs occupy a space fraught with ten- sions; between documentation and narrative, the spontaneous and the staged, and between overt expression and that which is left unsaid. As twins, we have set out to find ourselves in each other, the similarities become interesting and exciting. Trying to create something new each time, a story unfolds and never ends.

Hasan & Husain Essop