Artist Statement

Khalilah's work is about spiritual transformation. Her current body of work contains a variety of large scale, mixed-media paintings. There are several series in the collection, with a contemporary Islamic flavor. She filters the world through the eyes of an African-American Muslim woman.

Most of her paintings are inspired by verses of the Holy Quran and current events. Her first series was inspired by the horrific events of 911. These paintings describe her response, as an African American Muslim woman, to the event and media coverage of the attack. As a result of many hours of meditation and constant building and scraping away at images laying deep in the subconscious, Above and Below came into existence.

Above and Below was first used in the 911 Series in describing the turbulent event that occurred in the skies above New York City and its affect upon the world below. This piece has influenced the perspective through which the viewer is positioned below the horizon line, placing the viewer below the ard (earth). She continues to use the door size framework in Above and Below series that symbolizes a metaphorical entry to an unseen world. Verses from the Holy Quran are referenced throughout her work, and continue to be a source of inspiration.

Her most recent work is focusing on the destruction of the Muslim world and how the world sees Islam. There are nine mixed-media pieces in the collection that have been created from
One image. The series focuses on “Silent Observation”,