Fri, Sep 18, 2015, 9 am –Sun, Oct 11, 2015, 5 pm Concourse Gallery Gallery Exhibition Image College Art Gallery Collaborative presents the 12th annual tour of local college and university art exhibitions. This exhibition invites viewers to see through the eyes of young Somali Muslims living in the Twin Cities. Driven by community, the works on display are a celebration of self-representation and partnership across difference that challenges stereotypes while broadening our understanding of ourselves and each other. Partners in the collaborative project include the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Dugsi at the Abubakar Islamic Center in Minneapolis, photographer Mohamud Mumin and his mentees Muna Ahmed and Khadijah Charif, and MCAD professor Natasha Pestich and her spring 2015 Art and Community class. Mumin and His Mentees Mohamud Mumin is a photographer and visual storyteller whose passion for photography lies in his pursuit to harness its immense capacity to facilitate dialogue across barriers and cultures. Accordingly, he has devoted much of his time to documenting the social life of Somalis in North America. Mumin’s recent work has been centered around Somali youth engaged in their community as they forge a life in their new homes. As an extension to his practice, Mumin is committed to mentoring the youth in his community. His mentees, Muna Ahmed and Khadijah Charif, are two remarkable and dedicated students who are invested in using their art to make a positive impact within their own community. The Dugsi Deaf and Hard of Hearing Dugsi is a weekend Koran and Islamic studies school at Abubakar Islamic Center in Minneapolis. The Dugsi is dedicated to providing its students a sense of community, visibility and above all, it affords them a space to learn their studies through American Sign Language. Pestich and Her Art in Community Students Natasha Pestich is a printmaker and community artist who creates and documents stories through wearable art, books, posters and spatial design that celebrate and question how we relate to our environment. Committed to building relationships across difference, Pestich has spent the past few years facilitating relationship-building that connects her MCAD students to the broader Twin Cities community.