26 May 12
The Muslim community in the Murcia region consists of more than 90,000 citizens coming from the most varied backgrounds and sharing a desire: to improve their level of integration. This is one of the conclusions reached by the official of the Municipality of Murcia, Teresa Martin Melgarejo, one of the most active Murcian citizen working at social networks and civic organizations, and who has spent the last two years of her life living with a collective, socially stigmatized community in Spain. The result is a photographic work, entitled ‘Muslims, our neighbors’, and coordinated by Monica Lozano, Professor of Photojournalism at the University of Murcia, who has earned, by popular vote, the first prize of the first Festival of Photography organized by the Cienojos Collective and the Museum of Fine Arts.
Apart from worshipers in mosques, Teresa Martin has portrayed the leaders of Islamic communities, young Spanish speakers learning Arabic, traders in the district of San Andrés, doctors in hospitals and health centers, cultural mediators, butchers, cooks, pharmacists, nurses, journalists, lawyers, farmers, housewives … Curiously she also discovered Muslims who do not practice their religion. “An estimated 18% of the so-called second-generation Muslims born in Spain do not practice their religion. “
