About

My mission is to translate personal memory and cultural identity into universal visual stories—while ensuring my work can reach an audience through online sales and commissions, thereby sustaining both creative autonomy and economic viability.

Mona Al-Qanai (b. 1978, Kuwait) is a multidisciplinary artist whose bold experiments in drawing, installation, photography, and film push the boundaries of visual anthropology.

Following her early artistic pursuits, Mona earned an MA in Visual Anthropology from the University of Manchester in 2011, after completing a BA in English Literature at Kuwait University (1998–2002).

Building on both her academic background and Kuwaiti-American heritage, she draws on a bicultural perspective that shapes her creative research.

This foundation led to Mona's debut solo exhibition, Black (2005), at the Museum of Modern Art in Kuwait, which featured paintings created with black ink. These works challenged the monochrome, expressed inner experience with minimalism, and drew regional attention.

After her early success, Mona built a two-decade career in visual anthropology, contemporary art, film, and consultancy. She held a senior role at Kuwait’s National Council for Culture, Arts, and Letters, and founded her consultancy in 2023 to align her work with evolving values.

As Mona’s reputation grew, her work was exhibited in the GCC, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Highlights include her 2023 solo show, "Letting Go," at Al-Adwani Hall, and group projects such as "Out of Kuwait" (London, 2013), the Sadi Sadu Art & Design Initiative (Kuwait), and the New York Art Expo (2006, 2009).

With this increasing exposure, her work has earned recognition, including the Summer Painting Exhibition Award from Kuwait’s National Council for Culture, Arts, and Letters, for its conceptual depth and cultural resonance.

Continuing this trajectory, in her creative projects, Mona explores memory, identity, and feminine ritual through archival motifs, drawing, film, and installation. She reconstructs emotional and cultural narratives—often hidden or overlooked—with a focus on erasure and silence.

“how the silent body archives grief” or “reconstructing lineage through gesture”—to humanize the narrative.