The proposed project is a photoessay envisioned to document the emotional struggle of young Muslims dealing with negative perceptions and religious discrimination. The project intends to portray the dominance of socio-political discourses that are constructing young Muslim minds and how their external world is structuring their internal sense of self. Amidst the growing hatred and violence in the name of Islam, many Muslims are finding it difficult to dissociate themselves from extremism and are battling socially demonizing debates. The photoessay will make an attempt to understand what these young Muslims are enduring; their frustration, depression and confusion as they continue to live in an Islamophobic society.

Muslims world over are being viewed as 'Fundamentalists' and 'Terrorists'. Violent conflicts are often reported in terms of binary oppositions such as good versus evil. Terrorists are often presented as the evil 'Others', and the 'Other' is often viewed as the bearded or veiled Muslim in general. There is a considerable amount of research to confirm this pattern of representation. These assumptions have led to a bias, misunderstanding, stereotyping and hostility towards Islamic culture. This negative image tends to put in question an entire faith, portraying it as fundamentally alien and attributing to its followers an inherent, essential set of negative traits, such as irrationality, intolerance and violence. This project aims to explore how young Muslims, especially in the US and UK, adapt to this phenomenon.

The Silence of 'Others' is not about taking sides. Its purpose is to understand the psychosocial experiences of a community. It's about understanding people and their minds. It intends to utilize an approach where individual opinions, perceptions and inner voices get a chance to be articulated. I will reach out to young Muslims who have stories to share, have experienced physical or verbal assaults or those who are just silently struggling with a psychosocial crisis. I will conduct in-depth interviews and spend time making images that can help understand their perceptions and all that is shaping their thoughts and actions. Through images I will capture their activities, behaviors, emotions, lifestyles, personal spaces, external interactions and unravel how each situation can illustrate the lived struggle of young Muslims. The images will not exactly be of moments, but of the silence between numerous moments. The images will not be of what an eye can see, but will reveal what an eye might overlook.

As a young boy growing up in Nigeria and India, I never considered Muslims to be different from what we were. My best friends were Muslims, we played together, shared our food and religion was the least of our concerns. I never felt intimidated while entering a Mosque and have spent countless evenings sweeping floors along-with the caretaker for the Mosque next to my ancestral house in India. But inspite of my affinity with Islam and its followers, today, I feel a sense of uneasiness. And I wonder what changed me and how over the years I started searching for meanings in words like 'Muslim' and 'Islam'. My childhood friends are gone but every time I see young Muslim boys and girls walking down the streets, I want to look in their eyes to find out if they too have the same dreams that we had as kids. I want to know if 9/11 or 7/7 has changed anything for them and if being a Muslim today is any different from what it was 20 years ago.

Three years ago, my teacher, renowned Magnum photographer Raghu Rai, told me, "The human soul has solutions for every problem. If your images can reveal the soul, they will also reveal the solutions." And I have always believed that. In 2008, I was awarded the Ford Foundation International Fellowship in recognition of my work for the socially and economically marginalized communities in India. I came to USA to pursue a degree in Photojournalism and here my alma mater, the University of Missouri-Columbia, further strengthened my belief. Last year, I won a Gold place [1st] in the 64th College Photographer Of the Year competition in the International Picture Story category. My picture story highlighted the struggles of a Burmese refugee family in New Delhi, and consequently, helped Burma Assist, a NGO, raise funds for their refugee protection programs in India. It was a further reinforcement of my belief that soulful images can generate some solutions.

The Silence of 'Others' is my vision to explore a poignant global issue and seek solutions. I sincerely need the POYi Emerging Vision Incentive, as it will help my exploration overcome geographical barriers and also earn me the time I need for a deeper investigation of the issue. It will provide me with the means necessary to transform my vision into action.

USA and UK have been chosen as locations for the project. The proposal is being submitted for a period of 8 months; from July 2010 till February 2011.
The USA chapter began in Chicago, IL. and Columbia, MO., in the month of April 2010. It will conclude in New York City in August 2010.
The project will travel to London and Sheffield, UK, in September 2010. The deadline for the UK chapter is February 2011. I have a UK visa and I am eligible to work there.

For the project, the definition, "young people aged 15-29 years", by the Commonwealth Youth Program will be used. Organizations like 'Young Muslims' and 'Hamdard' are presently supporting the project to gain the much-needed access to participants in USA. In London and Sheffield, UK, organizations like 'Young Muslims UK' and 'Northern Refugee Center' have agreed to provide initial logistical support. Some families in London have personally written to me and have expressed their desire to be a part of the project.

I strongly believe that this project will be useful for gaining insights into people's motivations and actions, and cutting through the clutter of taken-for-granted assumptions and conventional wisdom. The Silence of 'Others' is important for all those who demand an end to religious bigotry and desire to live in peace. It can act as a bridge of understanding; explain how important is media's role in stereotyping Muslims, how do Muslims want the West to look at them and how safe or unsafe it is to live in an Islamophobic world. It can also be of extreme interest to decision makers, giving them an opportunity to directly hear from those who are affected by their policies. This, and similar projects, can produce valuable insights and have all the potential to yield solutions to the worldwide concern of growing violence and hate.

This image: Yaser Aslam, 22, walks past by an art installation at the Stained Glass Museum in Chicago, IL., on April 29, 2010. In January 2002, after the failed shoe bombing incident, Yaser and his younger brother were at a local shoe store with their friends when a woman walked up to them and shouted, "These shoes are meant for display and not for destruction."