Muslim T-shirts Project, 2002

In 2002, I was a third-year art student at the University of California, Riverside. 

“If you see something, say something.”

This trademarked slogan became the Homeland Security’s official campaign to encourage citizens to watch and report one another. University students were encouraged to be extra vigilant, going as far as to report their professors for suspicious lectures. When I ran my ideas for the Muslim T-shirt project, my advisor supported me to seek a microgrant. I wanted to play against the idea of branding people’s identities by printing hundreds of Muslim T-shirts to be worn by as many university students as possible. 

The project wasn’t funded for fears that it would expose students to harm or even lead to them being detained. Without funding, I found the solution in downloading pictures of random people on the internet and photoshopping the word Muslim on their t-shirts.