"My soul is from elsewhere, I am sure of that, and I intend to end up there."
-Rumi
 

Dear Reader,

I pray you are well. 

In some ways I feel like I’d been hiding under a rock. When the pandemic first happened in 2020 I had to make the hard decision with my husband of whether or not we would quickly pack our things and catch the next flight to America, or stay in Egypt for the unforeseen future not knowing when next we could see our families in United States. 

It felt strange to decide to dig our heels in and plant ourselves more firmly in a foreign country. The airport was shutting down. No one could leave or enter Egypt. 

There were curfews. We had everything delivered. There was nowhere to go. No one could be visited. We walked our tree lined neighborhood and returned home each day to us. Our kids even moved into our bedroom because it just felt easier to put them to bed if we all went to sleep together. I guess you could say our world got small and we got cozy. 

In the midst of it all, we moved to another neighborhood in Cairo. We got an apartment with a backyard and an inflatable pool. It was fun. 

Our new place also helped me feel more comfortable inviting a few friends over every now and then to sit outside and be together. I revamped my Arabic lessons in our garden. I also decided to learn more about business. I got a mentor who specializes in intellectual property and I began to learn a ton about the potential value of what I create and more about how I could share it with the world.

I had never thought of myself as a small business, but being surrounded by other like minded people who were sharing their gifts in other forms made me realize that I had more in common with other business people than I had thought. 

I am an artist. But being an artist has always for me involved managing projects, accessing capital to support my artwork, working with institutions and community. And, very importantly, connecting my artwork to people who appreciate it. 

It’s Small Business Saturday.

Your might not have realized this, but, I’m a small business too. 

While I was in Egypt, I became a small international business to boot! I started selling prints and drawings to family, friends, and even people I didn’t even know who purchased my prints from my site. Every month I’d bring artworks to DHL packaged and rolled and happily ship them to the United States. 

Especially during the pandemic, selling my artwork was one of the most surprisingly connecting and joyful things I did. All of the obstacles that I thought existed towards me connecting my artwork to the people who valued it - turned out, they didn’t exist. Not even in a pandemic. 

Now I’m back in the United States, alhumdulilah I have a studio at the Queens Museum as an In Situ Fellow and yet again, I’m eager to connect with people in person and through my artwork. 

So, I have an opportunity for you. All of my Black and White photographs are ON SALE for a limited time only for 25% - 50% off. These are signed Limited Edition Fine Art prints from my As the Veil Turns series. Though I’ve done many other projects, when it comes to my community this one always seems to resonate the most. 

As the Veil Turns is a photography, video, and oral history project about Black women in my Brooklyn mosque community who converted to Islam prior to 1975 and founded many of America’s oldest still-existing mosques. Each one of us has lived through some exceptional times - like the pandemic, and will have extraordinary stories to tell. These women have lived through a time that we only read about - the Civil Rights movement, Jim Crow, Sharecropping, The Great Migration, Black Power, and we need to know and preserve their stories. 

When you purchase an As the Veil Turns signed Limited Edition Print today, not only will you be saving 25% to half of the cost of what the artwork is worth, I’ll add in a surprise gift with your photograph so that you can help amplify the untold stories of the Black and Muslim women who courageously shared her story. 

You will preserve an important history and have a new story to tell. 

See the full collection of my As the Veil Turns photographs today and purchase a print from the series on this Small Business Saturday. 

With Peace,

Nsenga Knight