Artist's Statement

This is the portrait of "I Don’t Know Whom."

"ID."

An unidentified Muslim American woman in Florida made headlines when she sued the state for the right to wear a niqab—a face veil—for her driver’s license photo.

We need not know her name. Beneath the veil, identity dissolves—she, he, they, or someone else entirely.

Religious freedom is a fundamental right. Yet, the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles insists that public safety demands clear identification. Still, some would argue: God is God.

Later, she was convicted of aggravated battery and sentenced to 18 months of probation after twin 3-year-old girls in her foster care were hospitalized with bruises and injuries.

The niqab committed no crime. But the person beneath it did.