In a sunny Edmonton apartment, Faisa invites me to sit in front of her camera where her dining room table once was, in what is now a photography studio. Armed with a collection of equipment: lights, a backdrop, and an old MacBook, I watch her work. She is fluid and confident behind her camera, and I feel at ease as we exchange stories back and forth.
For photographer Faisa Omer, her camera is a storytelling medium that allows her to advocate for her many communities. “I’m drawn to socio-political stories…anything that pertains to my community, and amplifies our voices is important to me.” Her work often explores themes of community, identity, racism, and systemic barriers. She’s working to redefine narratives of beauty by highlighting Muslim women in modest fashion and shining a light on the experiences of marginalized communities.
Faisa is a studio photographer and mental health professional who was born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario. Her parents immigrated to Canada in the early ‘90s to escape the Somali Civil War. For Faisa, her mother has always been one of her biggest inspirations. “She would always tell us over and over again, ‘I didn’t get this, so don’t waste the opportunity.’ That’s what drove me to keep working and keep grinding…The art of the hustle, I got it from my hooyo.”
Image description: A black and white photograph of Faisa Omer who is poised and smiling with confidence. She is seated, wearing a long-sleeved black top, and dark pants. Her left hand rests upon her temple, her elbow balanced on one knee. A long scarf is draped over her head, wrapped around her neck, and either end is resting on her chest.
Above: Faisa Omer, Ahlam, 2021. Photograph. Image courtesy of the artist.
Image description: A colour photograph of a woman with brown skin in a studio with a red backdrop. A long white scarf is draped over her head, wrapped around her neck and covering one shoulder. Under this scarf, a black and red silk head scarf is wrapped and tied in a knot. The woman’s other shoulder is covered with a patterned fabric. She is wearing a nose ring, hoop earrings, and her nails are manicured, sharp and painted white. She is resting her chin on one palm, biting on her pinky nail in a seductively modest fashion.
Her educational background includes two degrees in Neuroscience from Carleton University and more recently a second master’s in Counselling Psychology from Yorkville University. While she tries to keep her roles as a mental health professional and a photographer separate, she uses her skills on set to support subjects in moments of vulnerability. “I use my mental health skills if the topic is heavy, if people [are] triggered, I try to get them back to baseline because of the skills that I attained as a counselor.”
In her photo series, Reclaiming Ritchie (2021), she worked alongside her brother Abdullahi Omer to share the experiences of young Somali men in her community dealing with racism. She paired photos of community members with striking narratives describing the realities of Black folks in Canada. In a process that was part oral storytelling, part photo-journalism, she invited subjects to share their stories while being photographed.
Image description: A colour photograph of a young man who lived near Ritchie Street. He is photographed in warm lighting against a dark studio background. He has brown skin and is wearing a silk tunic. He faces forward in a calm repose.
“While I’m taking the photo, they’re sharing their stories. So that’s why the portraits are a bit more striking because the emotion is still on their face. I try to keep it light… but usually, you can see the sadness in their eyes.” In her own way, Faisa embeds care into the process, keeping the names of storytellers anonymous so that they can share without “becoming their stories.” For her, one of the most important parts of the series was the ability to connect with her community. “I got a lot of feedback from the Reclaiming Ritchie series,” she recounts, “people who I wouldn’t have rubbed shoulders with, young Black men from my neighborhood, were touched.”
Another theme she often explores in her work is modest fashion; Faisa photographs Somali women exploring the blend between modern and traditional clothing and expressing their identity through modesty. As a young girl growing up in Canada, “there were rarely any hijabi women or Black women on the covers of magazines.” She knows firsthand how important representation can be: “Seeing Halima Aden a couple of years ago in a magazine at the store…you feel seen, you feel that someone that looks like you is deemed beautiful. For me, with my art, I wanted to add to that narrative.”
Whereas Faisa is working to undo harmful narratives about beauty, she understands that the work is not done. “A lot of the people that I photograph don’t think they’re beautiful, even after they see the photos, and it’s kind of heartbreaking.“ However, through her photography, Faisa is reshaping how we’re perceived, because in her studio and in her art, Muslim women are visible according to our own autonomy.
“I’m trying to honour the hijab and whoever I’m photographing. I’m trying to show that you can wear hijab, and you can feel beautiful as well.” In a series she’s currently working on, Faisa is exploring Islamophobia in a Canadian context. “It’s very important to amplify Muslim women’s voices due to the unsettling rise of Islamophobia in Canada.”
Image description: A colour photograph of four people with brown skin huddled together in a studio with a white background. They are all wearing white and beige garments, facing forward. They are connecting through touch, leaning into each other. The person in the front-centre has short, bleach-blonde hair. They lean forward, pressing one hand into their chest. Behind, the three are sporting different hairstyles and headwear: one has braids, one is wearing a bucket hat, and one with a headband crowning his black curly hair.
In a way she’s paying it forward, working to make sure her community feels seen, in the same way those who came before her made space for her voice. One photographer in particular that contributed to Faisa’s journey is Yasin Osman, award-winning Toronto-based photographer and founder of Shoot for Peace. Faisa shared the story of visiting Yasin’s 2018 Dear Ayeeyo exhibit in Regent Park.
“I remember walking around in Regent Park in the art gallery and just seeing these pictures, these portraits of Somalis and thinking, this is so lit. Before that, you don’t go to art galleries. Why would you, unless you had a field trip? This was maybe the first or second time I was at an art gallery because I had to go see this. I remember thinking, one day I’m going to do the same thing. I’m going to have my art in an art gallery.”
Since then, photos from Faisa’s Reclaiming Ritchie series have become a part of the permanent collection at the Ottawa Art Gallery, and a recent project is being featured as part of the Art Gallery of Alberta’s Sidewalk Cinema. Her art is a testament to fulfilling the roles we are called to complete. “Sometimes people ask, ‘how do you balance everything?’ because I have a full-time job, I just finished full-time school, and photography takes a lot of time and energy. I don’t know how to explain it; if I get an idea, it haunts me and it has to be done. If you get an idea, you can’t let it die—that’s a tragedy. You have to honour the idea.”
For more on Faisa Omer‘s work, see: https://faisaomer.com
Somali-Canadian poet, Timiro Mohamed‘s practice is an exploration of identity, self, and community. Her work is a labor of love inspired by the storytellers that came before her. Timiro is the former City of Edmonton Youth Poet Laureate, has competed nationally at the Canadian Festival of Spoken word, and is the co-author of the chapbook Water. She has performed for over 100 audiences, across five cities and two countries and has opened for Grammy award-winning artist Yasiin Bey. Her debut solo chapbook and poetry EP Incantations of Black Love, is available at timiromohamed.com.
This article is published in issue 38.3 of BlackFlash magazine. Get this issue
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