Faisal Abdu'Allah | |
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Born | Paul Duffus 1969 (age 55–56) |
Nationality | British |
Alma mater | Willesden High School Harrow School of Art Central St Martins Royal College of Art |
Occupation(s) | Artist and barber |
Known for | Painting, illustration |
Faisal Abdu'Allah (born 1969 in London) is a British artist and barber. [1] His work includes photography, screenprint and installations.
Abdu'Allah was born Paul Duffus in 1969 and grew up in a Pentecostal family. He was educated at Willesden High School, Harrow School of Art, Central St Martins and the Royal College of Art. [2]
In 1991, Abdu'Allah converted to Islam and changed his name. The event was described in the BBC television documentary series The Day That Changed My Life, [3] and formed the subject of the artist's 1992 work Thalatha Haqq (Three Truths). [4] He taught at the University of East London (UEL), [5] formerly North East London Polytechnic. He was a visiting professor at Stanford University [6] and is a member of the Association of Black Photographers. [7]
In the spring of 2013, Abdu'Allah was an artist-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arts Institute, and in the fall of 2014 he returned to Wisconsin, this time as an assistant professor in the Art Department of the School of Education. [8] He is now an associate professor of art and in 2017, received one of UW–Madison's Romnes Faculty Fellowships. [9]
In his work The Last Supper, eleven men and women sit in Islamic costume around a table, while a figure corresponding to Judas Iscariot stands, concealing a gun behind his back. Silent Witness featured portraits of young black men, with a soundtrack mixing rap, prayer and interviews. [10]