A resource exploring the practice of observation through our immediate environments and the people in our community.
Introduction
Observation can be an act of intrigue, curiosity, exploration and discovery. It is a direct action in engaging with the world around us. It can also be a mindful act to live in the present and notice the intricacies of our immediate surroundings and the people in our community.
This resource, written by Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora invites students to engage with Mahtab Hussain’s What Did You Want to See? commissioned by Ikon and Photoworks.
Themes
We have lived in the first era of the smartphone, without any prior knowledge of what dangers it could cause – attention deficit, growing apathy, surveillance, doom scrolling and addiction, all causing growing concern for a generation of young people.
There is a suggested solution however, that we begin to reclaim and form new habits of observation and play in the world around us. Sophie Howarth, in her book The Mindful Photographer proposes an antidote: slowing down. Howarth suggests we allow the practice of photography to restore and enrich us. For when we observe the world around us it can absorb our thoughts and help us find our place and discover who we are, and the people we want to be.
In Mahtab Hussain’s new work What Did You Want to See? Hussain, who grew up in Birmingham, explores the fine line between photographic documentation and surveillance culture, intervening in the intelligence sites established by the media and the state to monitor both his local community and the Muslim community in Britain at large, revealing deeply uncomfortable structural racism in Britain whilst also celebrating the Muslim community with a series of beautiful portraits.
Through long-term, multimedia research, Hussain observes and examines the complex relationship between identity, heritage and displacement. His practice articulates a visual language that challenges prevailing notions of multiculturalism.
What Did You Want to See? also presents Hussain’s systematic documentation of 160 Birmingham mosques, revealing the diversity of mosque architecture as well as portraits of Birmingham residents, which highlight the city’s vibrant Muslim community.
In our everyday life we can experience moments of joy and beauty, even in troubling times. This resource is a toolkit to discover what matters most to us, and to be unafraid of addressing uncomfortable truths too, through the gift of observation and image making.
“Through my work, I strive to reflect the richness and resilience of Muslim communities, celebrating their individuality while challenging stereotypes. Each portrait and installation is a story, an invitation to connect, and a reminder of the beauty in our shared humanity.”
Mahtab Hussain
I. The world around me
We are living in troubling times; we are facing a climate crisis and the rise of the far right. Wars are raging and hate speech from the political elite is commonplace. Mahtab Hussain’s work is politically charged. It addresses deeply uncomfortable structural racism that has been allowed to pervade our society, whilst also challenging stereotypes and unconscious bias.
What Did You Want to See? features Birmingham, the second largest city in the UK, a city that boasts a rich multicultural mix, including some 30% of the population who identify as Muslim. However, Mahtab Hussain, who grew up in Birmingham, says being Muslim was something that only came into focus over time.
‘A pivotal moment was the Salman Rushdie affair in 1989 [in which the author was put under a fatwa for his novel The Satanic Verses],’ he says. ‘From then on, I was Muslim, not Pakistani, and what was foregrounded was the religious space. In the 1990s films such as True Lies and even Die Hard were so racist, and in 2003 the Iraq War was even more televised. This idea of the Muslim Arab being the enemy started to filter in.’ Mahtab Hussain
Activity
With your students consider some of the ways in which people and places are represented or misrepresented. This could be on a local, national or international level.
Here are some prompts and activities for either a group discussion or individual activity:
- What is happening in your local area/county/the world that is politically challenging or you find troubling?
- Analyse a local and/or national news story, consider the way people or places have been represented. Ask yourself why?
- Watch a film or tv show. Observe and analyse the way a certain character is represented or misrepresented and consider why.
- In your local area go for a walk and count the number of surveillance cameras, compare this to the number in ‘Project Champion’.
© Mahtab Hussain, Covered cameras on Alum Rock Road Birmingham from the series What Did You Want To See?
© Mahtab Hussain, Car drivers were monitored via ANPR Cameras, from the series What Did You Want To See?
II. Writing Walk
Walk an area familiar to you. This could be inside or outside. Write notes about what you observe. Try to have no distractions and engage fully in your surroundings. See what you notice.
Prompts to suggest for students on their walk might include:
- Describe how you feel
- What can you hear?
- What can you smell?
- What can you taste?
- What can you see?
- What do you notice about where your attention goes?
- Are there any parts of the environment that make you feel uncomfortable? Such as graffiti, derelict corners or cameras?
At the end of the walk, ask the students to summarise what they observed with a free writing/drawing task using one of the following techniques:
- Free writing task: 10 minutes of uninterrupted writing inspired by the walk.
- Spend 10 minutes picking out key words or phrases from the walk and expand on these into sentences.
- Draw an interpretation of what you felt/smelt/heard/saw/tasted.
III. Photo walk of your environment
Mahtab Hussain has photographed traces of where surveillance cameras used to be, making a statement about how the political stance of those in charge impacted the Muslim community in Birmingham.
Walk an area familiar to you and take your camera. Photograph what you observe along the way. Consider photographing one or some of the following as starting points:
- Landscape of the place, including buildings.
- Close-up views of the place.
- People in their environments. Can you chat with them and find out what they think of the place?
- Are there objects you can photograph that represent that place?
- Is there a specific aspect or area you would like to focus on?
- Are there any parts of the environment that make you feel uncomfortable such as graffiti, derelict corners or cameras? How can you photograph them?
Ask students to consider what they know about their local area or familiar surroundings.
- Do they want to photograph what they already know?
- Or try to show the place in a new light?
- Are they trying to shed light on a challenging issue their area/community have faced?
IV. Celebrate community
This task aims to connect people and place, and for students to engage positively with their community. Begin this task by asking students which people in their lives and/or their community they would like to celebrate and why.
Ask them what makes these people special to them? And how could the gift of a photograph be an act of celebration?
For What Did You Want to See? Hussain has created a series of black & white portraits of Birmingham’s South Asian Muslim community. With these images, Hussain shifts the gaze from traditional colonial power dynamics to a collaborative process with his sitters. The minimalist white backdrop and dramatic contrasts hint to surveillance and standardisation, all the while confronting the viewers with the sitters’ undeniable humanity, offering agency and a dignified portrayal of resilience.
In response to Mahtab Hussains portraits of Birmingham residents, which highlight the city’s vibrant Muslim community, ask students to create a series of portraits of people in their community. This could be their family, friends, or people in the wider community. It could even be their school class.
Set up a photo shoot with your chosen subjects. Use a plain backdrop and shoot in black & white, consider lighting, how you want your subject to pose, and if they should bring any props (objects) with them.
This could be done as an individual task, or as a group activity where sitters are invited to your school or college for their portrait.
Ethics
Be clear about any safeguarding issues such as visiting unknown locations alone, and always ask permission before photographing people, particularly children or vulnerable adults. Consider model release (consent) forms. Sample model release forms can be found online.
V. Create and share an outcome
The aim of this task is to create an outcome that collates, shares and celebrates what the students feel most passionate about from their observations of either people, place or their environments.
Outcomes could include:
- A collage presentation
To do this sequence a selection of your favourite images onto a large sheet of A3 or A2 paper. You could create multiple collage sheets based on different themes.
- Concertina photo book
To create a concertina folded photo book, you will need long sheets of paper and some card for the front and back cover. You can decide on the length depending on the number of photographs you want to include.
See an example from National Portrait gallery here and from artist Shona Grant here.
- Zine
See examples here for ideas on zine making.
- Moving image piece
To do this you will need some basic video editing software, and students can create a slideshow of their images as a starting point.
To get more creative include some original sound recordings. This could be spoken word, a recorded conversation, or ambient sounds from the environment collected from earlier tasks suggested here.
- Mixed media
Students could also consider including a map of the area or environment and adding text as part of the outcome.
- Installation or Exhibition
Hussain’s installations create a communal space within the gallery, fostering inclusion, care and intercultural dialogue. A carpeted room features a video of five prayer sequences, inviting visitors to join or observe as they choose. Another installation, titled An Act of Civil Declaration (2025), includes in the space a series of statements that confront the harmful stereotypes and prejudiced labels that the Muslim community has faced.
Think about how to share the outcome back with your community with a simple celebratory event, installation or exhibition. This could be in your college, school or a community hall.
Other Artists
Inspiration for photographing place
- Rinko Kawauchi, M/E
- Gauri Gill, Fields of Sight
- Richard Avedon, In The American West
- Saul Leiter, The Unseen
- Yoshinori Mizutani, Sakura
- Chris Neophytou, ERD
Inspiration for photographing people
- Richard Avedon, In The American West
- Zanele Muholi, Art & Activism
- Derek Bishton, Brian Homer and John Reardon, Handsworth Portraits
- Carolyn Mendelsohn, Being Inbetween
Books
- Belonging, A Culture of Place, bell hooks
- The Mindful Photographer, Sophie Howarth
- Photographing People and communities, Dawoud Bey
About the contributor
Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora is multi-disciplinary artist with a focus on socially engaged practice, working with local communities on global issues. She is interested in celebrating untold stories while exploring visual representations of gender, ethnicity and place. She is also an educator and works as a photography lecturer at Birmingham City University.
Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at Wembley Stadium, UN Headquarters New York, New Art Exchange Nottingham and Manchester’s People Museum. Her work Birmingham Lockdown Stories (2020) is held in the permanent archive and collection of the Birmingham Museum Trust.
Jaskirt is a multiple award-winning artist, including winning the British Journal of Photography’s Portrait of Britain award (2022-2024) and the LensCulture Art Photography Award (2024)
Jaskirt is the founder of @womeninphotobham, a bi-monthly social event for women photographers in the West Midlands.
