Photographs Encouraging Conversation About Islam

A photographic exhibition documenting the stories of Asian Muslims in New Zealand has opened at Jakarta’s State Islamic University (UIN). The exhibition of 26 photographs – which also make up a book of the same name titled The Crescent Moon: The Asian Face of Islam in New Zealand – tells the narrative of struggle, tolerance, acceptance, and hope for improved understandings of Islam for non-Muslims. New Zealand writer Adrienne Jansen and documentary photographer Ans Westra spent six months travelling the country to capture the stories of a diverse group of Muslims of Asian ancestry. “This is a project about conversations,” Jansen said. “We [in New Zealand] can’t afford to be so uneducated [about Islam].”