By Caroline Jaine

Last year I learned that Mary mother of Jesus is not just a key figure in the Catholic faith, but that the same woman – Maryam - is important in Islam too. Maryam, the only woman to be named in the Qur’an, has a whole chapter dedicated to her. On discussing this with Iraqi friends last year in Baghdad, they immediately became excited about Maryam’s potential not simply as a bridge between faiths, but as a figure in their community who might inspire greater respect for women. I wondered why I hadn’t come across this striking aspect of Islam before.

My preoccupation for some time has been with the perception of Islam. I have been bewildered by the mass media demonisation of a faith which I have only ever found to be peaceful. I have never seen merit in such negativity. As a non-Muslim my role as a blogger for Muslim Voices may rest awkwardly with some, despite my quest to explore Islam through non-Muslim eyes. But there is a growing view that those outside of Islam have a responsibility to stand up against a damaging and frankly incorrect presentation of the religion.

A couple of years ago I wrote an angry article after spending time at a conference on counterterrorism. The following day I stumbled across a discarded copy of the Daily Star in a café with the headline ‘Muslim Plot to Blow up Eastenders’. One reader had texted in “Are these Muslims thick?” and the paper in their wisdom printed it. I felt that the Star had revealed to me the heart of a problem that the conference had struggled to identify. I wrote at the time: “Closeted in my safe world of The Guardian, I had no idea this ugliness went on – I felt ashamed that I was unaware of it and mentally wrote a note of apology to my Muslim friends who I have in the past written off as paranoid.”

I didn’t need a three-day conference on extremism to tell me that Islam is not the problem. Violent extremism comes in many guises – Basques have done it, the Northern Irish have done it, football hooligans have done it. But the media continues to not just Islamise terrorism, but to present Islam and Muslims in a two dimensional way.

So how was it that I was unaware of Mary’s relevance in Islam? I can probably take some blame myself for being entirely uninquisitive about the faith despite living in Islamic communities. But I lay some of the blame at the door of the British media – who are intent on portraying Muslims as caricatured bearded Wahhabis. Muslim women are depicted as chest-beating, wailing, irrational victims.

I am pleased to see sites like Pictures of Muslims Wearing Things that are challenging this (and perhaps attracting visitors who are in need of horizon-broadening), but there is still not enough done to adequately represent the diverse multi-faceted Islam that exists.

As a visual artist concerned with portraiture, I am also intrigued not simply by who Mary was, but how she is depicted visually. Mary is seen by the faiths as the embodiment of integrity, compassion and honesty but she was also a single mother and a refugee and I wonder whether her resilience could be better demonstrated?

Last month I appealed for Maryams, Marys and Maries to donate photographed self-portraits to my project. I now have a collection of 50 faces that are a living legacy of her name and demonstrate Maryam’s diversity across and within faith today. A humble, but I hope accessible gesture that contributes to a broader portrayal of Mary and of Muslim women. By showing this collection I hope to showcase this striking aspect of Islam and show Muslim women, in particular, with the diversity they deserve.