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Samra Habib
Samra Habib (they/them) is a Pakistani Canadian photographer, writer and activist.[1] They are most noted for Just Me and Allah, a photography project they launched in 2014 to document the lives of LGBTQ Muslims,[2] and We Have Always Been Here, a memoir of their experience as a queer-identified Muslim published in 2019 by Penguin Random House Canada.[3] Born in Pakistan to Ahmadi Muslim parents, Habib emigrated to Canada with their family in 1991 to escape religious persecution.[3] They grew up primarily in Toronto and were forced into an arranged marriage as a teenager before coming out as queer.[4] Habib has also published articles bringing awareness to international social issues like women's rights[5] the experiences of queer Muslims,[6] and childcare.[7]. Just Me and Allah: A Queer Muslim Photo Project (2014)[8]Habib's photography project, Just Me and Allah,[2] is focused on queer and Muslim iconography in order to spread the hidden culture of queer Muslims.[8] Habib themselves explains the motivation for the photography project saying "I wanted to show everyone the creative and brilliant LGBTQ Muslims I identified with the most and would hang out with at art shows, queer dance parties, and Jumu'ah prayers. So I picked up my camera and decided to photograph what I was witnessing."[2] . We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir (2019) [9]We Have Always Been Here was published on June 4th, 2019, and was the winner of the 2020 edition of Canada Reads, in which it was defended by actress Amanda Brugel.[10] It was also longlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize,[11] and won a Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir or Biography at the 32nd Lambda Literary Awards.[12] The memoir has been received as a "...touching story of growing up, finding a home, and discovering oneself against the backdrop of cultural and familial expectations."[13] by the LGBTQ+ newspaper, Seattle Gay News, on April 1st, 2022. Its title was taken from a quote included in their memoir, We Have Always Been Here. Zainab, a transgender Muslim woman said, " We have always been here, it's just that the world wasn't ready for us."[14] . References
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