This Photographer Shines A Light On Muslim-American Women Athletes

(NPR) As a member the Muslim-American community, photographer Eman Mohammed began thinking of how little she knows about other Muslim-American women and their accomplishments.

To change that, Mohammed decided to start a long-term portraiture project featuring Muslim-American women. As she began the project, she turned her attention to sports and what Muslim-American women’s roles looked like in that field.

“The project isn’t aiming to break stereotypes because these women already did the work and shattered it, ” Mohammed said. “My goal is to highlight these women as they do it.”

The photos document each women’s unique path in the hopes to inspire other Muslim-American women and girls by seeing representation from their own community.

The project was started before the pandemic and is still ongoing.

Here are some of the athletes stories:

Subreen Dari

Subreen Dari describes herself as being one of very few Muslim-Hijabi women weightlifters in the sport, “I feel so empowered, doing what I love and being good at it while remaining true to myself.Eman Mohammed for NPR

Subreen is a 33-year-old Palestinian-American weightlifter living in Strongsville, Ohio. Dari started her fitness journey when she dropped off her son at a sports training facility and met with his trainer, who gauged Subreen’s interest in joining the female weightlifting team.

Subreen Dari is the mother of two, full-time office manager and part-time nursing student.Eman Mohammed for NPR