Right: Abdul Rahman with his nephew Abdul in front of the exhibition, which he hopes will convey a message of tolerance among different cultures and religions. Picture: Meagan Rogers.By Sarah Schwager
A NARRE Warren artist is using his brushstrokes to help bridge the gap between Australians and the Islamic community.
Australian-born Abdul Rahman last week launched an exhibition of paintings at the Cranbourne Library that promotes equality among all people.
The Islamic convert has spent much of his life working with disadvantaged youth and said his paintings conveyed tolerance and diversity.
“A lot of the trouble is happening right here in our back yard,” he said.
Mr Rahman, who has been painting for 30 years, though not professionally, said the paintings were a mixture of religious subjects, busy life in Pakistan and Australian bush scenes.
“The paintings are not about what we have got but more about what we are going to lose if we keep going this way,” Mr Rahman said.
The library has so far received a good response to the exhibition, which will run for four weeks.
Mr Rahman said he only painted as a hobby, mostly Australian bush scenes, but was inspired after recent events in Cronulla.
“It hit me when I saw the stuff happening in Sydney on the beaches,” he said.
The exhibition includes paintings of a market place in Pakistan, women going about their daily chores including collecting water from communal wells, men praying in the desert and Australian landscape scenes.
The paintings do not have any captions or explanations so people can make up their own minds about the meanings.
“If they understand them then they do, if they don’t, they don’t.”
Mr Rahman said his next paintings would be bolder, to help reinforce the seriousness of the situation Australia is getting into.
“None of our chiefs are standing up and putting messages of tolerance forward.
“When I converted, I gave up my religion, not my country. We all live together so we should be celebrating diversity, not extinguishing it.”
The exhibition can be seen at the Cranbourne Library at 65 Berwick-Cranbourne Road, Cranbourne. For information contact the library, phone 5990 0150.
