A beautiful new mural highlighting the diversity of Milwaukee’s Muslim communities recently found a home on the city’s South Side, displayed on the east-facing wall of Amanah Food Market (1301 W. Edgerton Ave.). This mural is the work of artist Amelia Bader, completed on commission by Fanana Banana, a Milwaukee-based collective of Muslim and SWANA women artists.
Unveiled in September, the mural depicts 12 Muslim figures of different ethnicities wearing traditional cultural clothing, standing alongside one another under the words “We Are the Power of Society.” From left to right the figures are: a Desi woman, a Burmese woman, a Yemeni woman, an Omani man, Palestinian man, an African American man, a Jordanian man, Tunisian man, Palestinian woman, a Somali woman, an Afghan woman and a Syrian woman. The only figure based on a real person is the African American man, Malcolm X.
“I wanted everyone to feel included,” Bader says. “They’re all equally important, and I wanted this mural to unite everyone. We may come from different places and have different backgrounds, but at the end of the day, we’re all one ummah.”
High Visibility
Fanana Banana co-founder Amal Azzam had originally discovered Amanah Food Market as an ideal place for murals in 2020, noting its location on a corner with high traffic and visibility. “The market’s owner said to do what we wanted,” Azzam mentions. “It’s nice to have a wall that feels like it’s ours.”…