Mobile Mosque — Ghana ThinkTank

In 2016, at the CounterCurrent festival, Ghana ThinkTank built a cart that travelled through Houston asking people to respond to the question "What is your Houston Diversity Problem?"

One of the problems caught the attention of a think tank of Syrian refugees at a camp in Serbia:
"Texas claims to be so "religious," yet I feel I have to hide five times a day to pray."

The Syrian Refugees came up with the idea of a Mobile Mosque - "he should be able to pray anywhere, in the park, in the street..."

So, in 2017, Ghana ThinkTank returned to the CounterCurrent festival with the Mobile Mosque, an elegant Islamic structure that travelled throughout Houston on flat bed trailers. For one wonderful week, the Muslim community in Houston took over this Mobile Mosque, offering a place for prayer, poetry, music, art, and a fundraiser for Syrian Refugees. The steel components will later travel to Detroit to become part of a long term project focusing on the role of Art in American Islamic relations and Housing Equity.

Ghana ThinkTank is presented as part of the INTERSECTIONS initiative. INTERSECTIONS is a program of the University of Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, which seeks to build bridges between visiting artists and Houston’s Muslim and non-Muslim residents, with a focus on University of Houston students.

INTERSECTIONS is made possible in part by the Association of Performing Arts Presenters Building Bridges: Campus Community Engagement Grants Program, a component of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.

The Mobile Mosque would not have been possible without the efforts of these amazing individuals and organizations:

Zeinab Bakhiet
Asad Ali Jafri - http://asadalijafri.com/biography/
Poetry
Write about Now
Rumi Khan
illMuslims - https://www.facebook.com/illMuslims/
Asma Mirza
Pheramor - https://www.f6s.com/pheramorinc
Mashal Awais
Raviteja Nulu
Srajan Bhagat
Hannha Underwood
Tanvi Sharma
DJ Scoop - https://www.mixcloud.com/djscoopmusic/
Shayan Shah
Carrie Schneider
Sabiha Gire
Nadia Gire
Al – Masri Syrian Kitchen
Carmen Garcia
Michael Fares
Isbah Raja
Abeer Javed
Barkat Syed
Kimberly Meyers
Ahlul Bayt Student Organization at the University of Houston - https://www.facebook.com/absouh/
Shawn Jafri
Hussain Syed
Alaa Sallam
Zainab Ghwari
Shireen Haq
Inpowered By One Significant Act, A Yoga Based Charity - https://in-powered.org/
Zain Shauk - Grassroot Islam - https://www.meetup.com/Grassroots-Islam-Houston/
Asra Shah
Melanie Meleekah Villegas
Tamika Evans
Julie Bata
Nation of Islam Mosque No. 45 - https://www.facebook.com/pg/Mosque-No45-112803538816046/about/?ref=page_internal
Eric Muhammad
Monifa Muhammad
Samar Babar - https://www.facebook.com/paletteofstyleart/
Hamida Mitha
Mehreen Arshad
Marium Khan
Noora Alfaham
Tara Blagg
Astrid Sukur
Alia Scheirman
Elissar Saleeba
Muslim Student Association University of Houston - http://uhmsa.com/
United Muslim Relief University of Houston - https://uh.collegiatelink.net/organization/UMRHouston
Deena Habazi
Sixto Wagan
Rachel Afi Quinn
Nick Flynn
Lacy Johnson
Anjali Kanooja
Dina Alsowayel
Hadia Mawlawi
Emran El-Badawi
Claudia Issa Baba
Center for Diversity and Inclusion at University of Houston - http://www.uh.edu/cdi/
Niya Blair
Jaime Gonzales
Kenya Evans
Abdul Rahim Muhammad - http://www.masjidalrasul.com/tx
Preacher Moss - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preacher_Moss
Alan Schnitger - http://stationmuseum.com/
Art League of Houston - http://www.artleaguehouston.org/
Jennie Ash
Zachary Gresham
Aurora Picture Show - http://aurorapictureshow.org/pages/home.asp
Sarah Stauder
Camilo Gonzalez
Blaffer Art Museum - http://blafferartmuseum.org/
Katherine Veneman
Dab Photo Creative Services - https://www.dabfotocreativeservices.com/
Ibrahim Islamic Center - http://www.ibrahimcenter.org/
Imam Khalis Rashaad
Islam in Spanish - https://www.islaminspanish.org/
Levy Park Conservancy - http://levyparkhouston.org/
Doug Overman
Nichole Romano
MATCH - https://matchouston.org/
Rothko Chapel - http://www.rothkochapel.org/
Ashley Clemmer
Mitchelle Center for the Arts - http://www.mitchellcenterforarts.org/
Shawn Abdulla
Pia Agrawal
Karen Farber
Lanna Morris
Trinh Sari Nguyen
Project Row Houses - https://projectrowhouses.org/
Ryan Dennis
Eureka Gilkey
Rick Lowe
Charlie Perez - http://charlieperezmusic.org/
Thomas Helton - http://www.thomashelton.org/Thomas_Helton/Welcome.html
Roxanna Asgarian - https://www.houstoniamag.com/producers/roxanna-asgarian
Kat Ermant
Chandra Josette Giambrone
Michelle Bayer Hernandez
Eric Ling
Nick Moser
Gordana Ristik – NGO Generator - http://generator.org.rs/
Cecilia White
Raphael Zollinger - http://rzollinger.com/
Celina Carney
Oil City Valve Houston - http://www.oilcityvalve.com/
Troy Laser Detroit - http://www.troylaser.com/