Saskia Warren, "British Muslim Women in the Cultural and Creative Industries" (Edinburgh UP, 2022)
New Books in Critical Theory
The Pressures of Being an Islamic Artist
There were pressure points about whether the participants would undertake a figurative approach to the human body which is seen by many in Islam but not all as not compatible with Islamic principles. Some students negotiated this concern through their own knowledge of art history and then others entered a negotiation with the institution. For some they felt that there was a pressure to conform to expectations around being an Islamic artist and quote unquote being an authentic Muslim. And this was pressure often given to them by predominantly white tutors who would say you need to put more of yourself into your work. Creative arts and design has the most white students enrolled on it. So for these mostly non-white Muslim students they felt that they had been
