Entering Interfaith Spaces “Without Fear of Rejection”
Rachel Robinson is a third year student at Grand Valley State University and has spent quite a bit of time this last semester thinking about what it means for her to be agnostic on her college campus. In the process of trying to not put herself in one religious or worldview category, she’s felt a fracture in her identity while trying to figure out where she fits in the world and within the GVSU community. One of her photos featured in our recent Interfaith Photovoice project group with the Kaufman Interfaith Institute, an artistic self-portrait through a broken window, reflects this fracture.
But Rachel found a space for that processing and reflection with the campus based project group. “It becomes very troubling sometimes to try to figure that out. But there are places like Interfaith Photovoice that I feel that I can really belong without fear or rejection.”
The space that Rachel found belonging in was created in partnership with Kaufman and centered the individual experiences and stories of nine students from a variety of worldview and faith backgrounds on campus. The goals of the project were to strengthen relationships on campus, create a sense of solidarity and belonging among the participating students, raise awareness of experiential differences on campus, and instigate change. Each week they responded to prompts about their beliefs and values in everyday life with photos in relation to their identities as college students and the degree to which they feel that GVSU amplifies and hinders flourishing.
Several participants, like Anam Fatma, voiced appreciation for the opportunity to learn from others on a more equal playing field of dialogue. “As a Muslim, I often feel the weight of being a minority, facing judgment and criticism when discussing religion. Having a platform like this to address misconceptions and foster understanding was invaluable to me. I hope to see more opportunities like this in the future, where individuals from diverse backgrounds can come together, share their stories, and build bridges of empathy and understanding.”
The Seeing and Believing project culminated in two in-person exhibit receptions. The first, which took place on April 11th at GVSU’s Allendale Campus, targeted the GVSU student body. The second took place on April 12th at GVSU’s downtown Grand Rapids campus and targeted the community and campus stakeholders through the school’s Presidential Showcase. The GVSU Interfaith Photovoice Exhibition is now viewable at the Kaufman Interfaith Institute's main programming space on the Health Campus.
Stay tuned to this space and make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel to learn more about this project and to hear from the participants themselves in the coming weeks.