This month’s featured artist is Maha Alasaker, a Kuwaiti visual artist based in New York City. Her work is focused on fine art, fashion and editorial photography. Alasaker’s work has been published in magazines such as Harper Bazaar Arabia, Vogue Arabia, Marie Claire, Lady Gunn, and Material Girl to name a few. She has also been featured in numerous exhibitions in New York City, New Mexico, Los Angeles, London, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Her personal work engages with identity and cultural issues including what art means for Muslim women.

Alasaker is a member of the Life Preservers Project Artist Collective having donated two of her art pieces to our annual summer events.

Recently, Alasaker has begun a new adventure with her first book titled “Women of Kuwait” which will be released next spring. In the book she provides a visual reference for anyone who wants to learn about Kuwaiti women. The concept came from her experiences since moving to New York from Kuwait and trying to help Americans understand what daily life is like for women in modern-day Kuwait. The book features young women interviewed and photographed in their bedrooms and will provide a never-before-seen look at what it means to be a young woman in Kuwait through their eyes.

The book is a collaboration with writer Nada Faris and will be published by Daylight Books but will require significant funding. Alasaker has started a kickstarter to help her make this project come to life. She currently has reached 80% of her goal and we’re hoping to get the word out to help her meet her full goal of $18,000.

If you would like to support Alasaker in her endeavor, please visit her project on Kickstarter to make your pledge.