Abdu’Allah investigates issues of representation
and identity as he presents his personal friends
rather than actors or strangers in his compositions.
In The Last Supper I, Abdu’Allah’s friends are
depicted in the attire they would customarily wear
to mosque. Conversely, The Last Supper II depicts
these figures in everyday clothing. The Muslimidentifying figures of The Last Supper diptych
occupy a well-known scene of Christianity and as
a result challenge the viewer to reconsider assumptions about who these figures are and perhaps,
to truly see them as individuals with complex
identities.
This work by Abdu’Allah relates to the idea of
selection in that he hand picked his subjects,
requested they dress in their traditional religious
garb as well as their daily wear, and positioned
them in the biblical narrative. In this way, The Last
Supper denotes the first level of selection where the
artist is in nearly full control and the end product
is dictated by his artistic vision and decisions.
A later work by Abdu’Allah illustrates another
place on the spectrum of selection. During his
residency at Stanford University, Abdu’Allah
created Adeve (2012) after witnessing a truly
inspiring interaction of care and trust between
two friends, Alex Fialho and A-lan Holt. Afterwards, Abdu’Allah asked Fialho and Holt whether
or not there was anyone else in their lives with
whom they felt a similar closeness. Had these two
young adults said, “no,” Adeve would never have
come to fruition, however, each told Abdu’Allah
of another person they trusted implicitly, Adeve was
born. Photographed at the same time of day, in the
same location, the individuals connected by trust
10
Squad
multiplied, as each person selected another trusted
person in turn, expanding to a chain of ten.
Choosing the two initial subjects of his work,
Abdu’Allah began the project in complete control
of the selection process. As he realized the potential
of the work, he relinquished control of selection,
and in the end that became the leading—if not the
controlling factor—of the piece. Abdu’Allah had
faith that this initial bond would reveal an expansive web of friendships. The project in its early
stages was marked by instability because the line of
friendship could abruptly end at any point. But
this was not the case, and although Abdu’Allah
initially had control of his piece, his subjects
determined its continuation and end result.
Adeve is constructed of two rows of ten images; the
individual portraits do not appear separate but
rather are contiguous. This intentional artistic
decision directly relates to the connected friendships between the subjects of Adeve. Backlighting
gives life to the static portraits of
Abdu’Allah’s composition, all of which are
headshots of the individuals. As the subjects lack
facial expressions, the viewer is faced with an
interaction devoid of answers to questions raised
from viewing Abdu’Allah’s work.
Identity is evident in this piece, but not as straightforwardly as the viewer would imagine. With
knowledge of the foundational relationship and
premise of Adeve, one can begin to suspect the
identities of the individuals included in the composition. The viewer is conscious that each person
wholly trusts the succeeding one, but the specific
attributes of the trusted individuals are undisclosed