Najjar Abdul-Musawwir

A short documentary, From State Prison to State Professor, about Abdul-Musawwir's life, screened at the 2018 Pan African Film Festival in California. The film was directed by Joshua Jackson and starred Abdul-Musawwir, Christopher Summers, Simeon Frierson, and Michael Key, Jr.

Abdul-Musawwir was the host of the television show Expressions, in which he interviewed artists such as Chintia Kirana, Craig Rhodes, Lewis Pruneau, Mike Faris about their work and lives. It aired for six seasons on PBS affiliate WSIU-TV, ending in 2017. In the December 12, 2012 episode, Abdul-Musawwir was the featured artist and was interviewed by guest host Jak Tichenor.

In 2011, Abdul-Musawwir was invited to serve on Illinois governor Pat Quinn's Muslim American Advisory Council. He has also served on the board of the Illinois Association of Museums.

Abdul-Musawwir is a professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where in 2009 he was awarded the distinguished Judge William Holmes Cook Professorship Endowment.

After leaving school, Abdul-Musawwir ended up committing a crime and served nine years in prison. While incarcerated, he became friends with a Muslim inmate who noticed that Abdul-Musawwir illustrated cards for fellow inmates to send their families. That man encouraged Abdul-Musawwir to study art as well as to improve his reading skills; at this time Abdul-Musawwir realized he was functionally illiterate. He realized the importance of knowledge to survival and spend his years in prison reading and studying art. He began reading the dictionary every day to improve his vocabulary and ultimately earned his GED while in prison. Some of his teachers in the prison worked at Southern Illinois University, who encouraged him to pursue his undergraduate degree there after he was released. He took their advice, and in his senior year, he earned the Rickert Ziebold Trust Award, which is the university's most prestigious award for art students, awarded to graduating seniors. He earned his Master of Fine Arts, also at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, in 1997.

Najjar Abdul-Musawwir (born October 25, 1958) is an African-American artist and professor of studio art and art history. His work has been exhibited around the world, including in the United States, Europe, Africa, and Asia. He teaches in Southern Illinois University Carbondale's School of Art and Design.