Two men row a long, wooden boat across the sea while a ghost-like mountain of rock forms the horizon behind them. Women in bright clothing sit amid a rainbow of fruits and vegetables in a market in Malaysia. A small boy with big, brown eyes waits patiently by his father at a mosque in Singapore.
Images of another world take Lindley Cultural Center gallery visitors on a trip to Southeast Asia. But the photographs introduce viewers to more than just another culture — they reveal pieces of life with which people of all cultures can identify.
More than a dozen of these large, colorful photographs from photojournalist Steve Raymer's book, 'Living Faith: Inside the Muslim World of Southeast Asia' fill the exhibit, which runs through June 28th. Staff members from Ohio University's Southeast Asia Studies program met Raymer when he visited in April for a conference on Children in Islam, Assistant Director Karla Schneider said.
"One thing that really stood out to us was how comprehensive his photographs were," Schneider said. "They really showed the diversity of Islam in Southeast Asia."
Raymer, a National Geographic staff photographer for more than 20 years, took the photographs for his book while traveling throughout Southeast Asia on a Fulbright Research Fellowship from the U.S. State Department, according to his Web site, http://www.steveraymer.com.
Southeast Asia Studies officials chose images from his book that visitors would not usually associate with Islamic countries, Schneider said.
"We would like to expose OU and the Athens community to different images of Islam, images that are not typically found in mainstream media," Schneider said. "Daily life (in these countries) is a lot more similar to us than people imagine."
Her favorite photograph was Raymer's shot of three women shopping in front of an Esprit store, an image that portrays figures from Islamic culture in a modern society.
The display will coincide with a teaching institute on Islam, titled 'The Many Faces of Islam,' said Polly Sandenburgh, director of Outreach for the Center for International Studies which will occur June. The conference brings 21 middle school and high school teachers from Ohio to OU to gain insight into Islamic culture, which they will share with their students.
"The purpose of the institute is to introduce participants to Islam around the world — in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East — to show the similarities in practice and how they are different," Sandenburgh said.
The institute — funded partially by the Ohio Humanities Council and the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation — was created to curb the effects of misinformation and confusion about Islam that arose after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, Sandenburgh said.
Many teachers turned to staff members at OU's Center for International Studies to answer questions their students had about Islam, Sandenburgh said.
Institute participants will learn about and discuss the history, religion, art and literature of the contemporary Muslim world, she said. The teachers also will visit the gallery and receive a copy of Raymer's book.
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Becca Manning
