Nearly 15 years ago, in post-9/11 New York City, filmmaker Atif Ateeq began documenting life for Muslims in a period of extreme change for both NYC and America.
He's since compiled these images into an Instagram-based photo essay called "DESI," titled after a slang term South Asians use to refer to themselves.
Atif writes:
While New Yorkers of all shapes and colors seemed to come together during the aftermath of 9/11, South Asians and Muslims were singled out and ostracized. I saw how this was effecting my family and community so I began to photograph a variety of South Asians and Muslims in New York City, in an almost desperate attempt to demonstrate that those practicing Islam were not the extremist, fundamentalists that the media wanted people to believe they were.
