Why is this Kaaba upside-down?

I came across an image on social media a few days ago that I couldn’t stop thinking about. Why was the Kaaba featured upside down on this oil painting?

I decided to ask the artist Safia Latif. With her consent, I decided to share her explanation. It resonated deeply with much of the work I am pursuing right now - from the Decolonizing Journalism course I teach at University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies to my latest book review, published today in an academic journal called Facts & Frictions. The book is called Under the White Gaze, by Vancouver-based journalist Christopher Cheung.

This was Safia’s simple response:

“Shaytan (ie Satan) has inverted everything. It’s hard to see because it’s all around us. In our discourse, our relationships, the way we feel in our bodies. But once you see it, you can’t unsee it. And that’s the first step to decolonization.”

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Safia sells her prints at https://www.safialatif.com/