WOMEN IN WHITE VEILS - Nudrat Afza 1999

Born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Nudrat trained as a nursery nurse and social worker. Self-taught as a photographer, she started taking pictures in 1987. She has since undertaken social documentary, landscape and architectural commissions in Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds, Manchester and Oldham. She has exhibited nationally and her work is in private collections and galleries across the North of England.

This photograph was one of a series of Glodwick which was commissioned for Oldham's 150th Anniversary and shown in Oldham Museum and Art Gallery's 'Boomtown' exhibition.

Compare this scene to Lowry's 'The Procession' nearby. Here, Muslim women are parading to celebrate the Prophet's birthday in front of old-fashioned terraced housing in Oldham. Unlike the tolerance shown to Whit Walkers, Muslim women dressed in traditional clothing often get abused on the streets of Britain, including in Oldham.

Intolerance of different races and cultures can lead to an unstable, hateful society. If people fear other racial groups, towns end up with segregated areas. This promotes distrust between communities, and stereotypes and misunderstandings have little chance of being remedied. This is unsustainable.

The birthday of the Prophet and on the streets of Oldham town a string of pearls a field of lilies a milk white ribbon bright a continuous sparkling filament, smiling faces, dancing graces a ripple of silk in the wind, a perfect moment in the rhythm of perfection local landscape transformed becomes a shimmering, radiant lake streets become rivers lanes become streams swan like they glide such radiant, graceful motion bright movement and serene understanding is transmuted from knowledge from which comes true kindness tread lightly