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, sustaining both creative autonomy and economic viability.

Mona Al‑Qanai (b. 1978, Kuwait) is a visual anthropologist and multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans drawing, installation, photography, and film.

She earned her MA in Visual Anthropology from the University of Manchester in 2011, and holds a BA in English Literature from Kuwait University (1998–2002).

With Kuwaiti–American heritage, Mona’s bicultural identity deeply informs her creative and research practices.

Her very first solo exhibition, Black (2005), was showcased at the Museum of Modern Art, Kuwait. Painted entirely in black ink, the series challenged perceptions of monochrome and sought to convey emotional and inner experience through minimalist expression—a body of work that generated significant attention in the regional art scene.

Over the past two decades, Mona has developed her career across visual anthropology, contemporary art, film, and consultancy. She served in a senior role at Kuwait’s National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters, then in 2023founded her own independent visual anthropological consultancy to align professional endeavors with evolving personal and ethical values.

Her work has been exhibited widely across the GCC, the United Kingdom, and the United States, including her 2023 solo exhibition Letting Go at Al‑Adwani Hall in Kuwait, along with group projects such as Out of Kuwait (London, 2013), the Sadi Sadu Art & Design Initiative (Kuwait), and the New York Art Expo (2006, 2009).

Mona’s practice has earned the Summer Painting Exhibition Award from Kuwait’s National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters, honoring the conceptual depth and cultural resonance of her work.

Her creative vision explores memory, identity, and feminine ritual through archival motifs, drawing, film, and installation. Sensitive to erasure and silence, she digitally and visually reconstructs emotional and cultural narratives that have been hidden or overlooked.

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