( Credit:
Elham Asaad Buaras
£15,000 has been raised via crowd-funding campaign to help ‘light-up’ a London intersection in celebration of Ramadan, due to start next week.
The ‘Ramadan Lights London’ GoFundMe campaign was created on February 28, has raised £15,000 of the £17,000 target.
Ramadan Lights London is a non-profit making community initiative, ‘from the community, by the community and for the community’ writes fundraiser Aisha Desai, who says she hopes enough money will be raised to design, produce, insure, install and remove the work as well as secure a year-round storage of the work so it can be used annually.
Barnet Council has granted permission for the installation to be placed in a familiar North London intersection of Henly’s Corner. Fundraisers hope the installation will also travel around the country when it inspires others to follow suit, using the designs freely.
‘We love London! It’s one of the greatest cities in the world, and the UK is home to a diverse community of 4.2 million Muslims. This year, help “Ramadan Lights London” share the beauty/spirit of our holy month with this great city. We love to see Christmas trees that herald the festive season, and Menora lights to wish us a Happy Channukah. This year Ramadan Lights London will create a beautiful installation that will wish all Londoners a heartfelt Happy Ramadan,’ wrote Desai.
She continued, ‘Muslims make up 15 per cent of London’s population. With our installation, we want to give our community something to be proud of, and to celebrate our collective contribution to the city we call home.’
Speaking to The Muslim News she said the idea “was born out of my desire to see a positive representation of our faith, depicted in an installation of some description, at a very spiritual and elevating time in our calendar, which is Ramadan. At the same time, I wanted the wider London community to be aware of our presence and our impact in an artistic and creative way, hence ‘Ramadan Lights London’.”
Brixton-based AWMA architect firm, which has a record of working on Ramadan projects, mosques and Islamic art installations have been commissioned with designing the installation.
Click here donate to the project.
