Why people of different faiths are painting their houses of worship yellow | Nabila Alibhai

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4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 26 September 2017

⏱️ 12 minutes

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Summary

Divisions along religious lines are deepening, and we're doubting more and more how much we have in common. How can we stand boldly and visibly together? Inspired by an idea from her collaborator Yazmany Arboleda, place-maker Nabila Alibhai and her colleagues created "Colour in Faith," a social practice art project that unites people of different religions by getting them to paint each other's houses of worship yellow, in a show of solidarity. "We've proven that the human family can come together and send a message far brighter and more powerful than the voices of those that wish to do us harm," Alibhai says.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This TED Talk features placemaker Nabila Albi, recorded live at TED Global 2017.
0:07.0	We live in a time of fear, and our response to fear can either be to contract and attempt to guard ourselves,
0:17.0	or to extend ourselves, hold on to each other and face our fears together.
0:24.2	What is your instinct?
0:26.5	What do you see more of in the world?
0:30.1	The problem with the first approach is that in our mounting isolation, we divide ourselves from others.
0:39.3	Our sense of isolation grows, because our imagination goes into overdrive
0:41.3	about the people and the spaces that we no longer engage with.
0:45.3	Our sense of otherness grows, and we lose empathy.
0:50.3	Today, I'm going to tell you about a group of people
0:52.3	that took the global challenge of terrorism
0:55.0	and began creating spaces where strangers connect in solidarity.
1:01.0	My own obsession with what I see as irrational divisions began as a child.
1:06.1	As a fourth generation, Kenyan Muslim of Indian origin,
1:10.3	it bothered me that in four generations,
1:12.3	there wasn't a single marriage in my family outside of my small religious community.
1:16.9	And I wondered what that was about. Was it fear? Was it racism? Was it cultural preservation?
1:26.7	Did it have something to do with colonialism?
1:30.3	Certainly, we didn't share a lot of the same public spaces with others.
1:35.5	These divisions bothered me deeply, and they drove my career choices.
1:40.3	When I was 20, the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed. A year later, I was 20, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed.
1:46.0	A year later, I was on my way to the Middle East to study conflict resolution.
	...

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