Syrian-American illustrator and designer Rama Duwaji has been thrust into the spotlight.
Based in New York City, she is known for her black-and-white drawings of women, in which she uses expressive line work to explore themes such as sisterhood, Arab identity, shared experiences and political resistance.
Even if you're unfamiliar with her art, her name might still ring a bell – Duwaji is married to Zohran Mamdani, who has just been elected New York City's first Muslim mayor.
However, as Mamdani said after they married earlier this year: “Rama isn’t just my wife, she’s an incredible artist who deserves to be known on her own terms.”
Duwaji has posted little about her personal life on social media, and even less is known about her family in Dubai.
She was born in Houston and lived in Texas until her family moved to Dubai when she was nine. Reports say she briefly attended Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar before transferring to the school’s Richmond campus to complete her degree.
She and Mamdani met on a dating app in 2021 and their first date was at Qahwah House, a Yemeni coffee shop in Brooklyn, CNN reported. They married in a courthouse in Lower Manhattan.
At just 28, she will be the first member of Gen Z to move into the official mayor's residence at Gracie Mansion - if the couple choose to live there.
Duwaji frequently depicts women of colour, focusing on their individuality, beauty and the nuances of their experiences. She uses her platform to create visual narratives that address current events and advocate for marginalised communities, particularly in the Arab world.
She has been vocal about her support for Palestine, for instance. In 2021, she shared an image showing three people standing together, joining elbows firmly. The words “we won't leave” are written across the piece in Arabic.
“In solidarity with Palestine and the families of Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood who are facing displacement from their own homes, a literal ethnic cleansing,” she said in the post.
Earlier this year, Duwaji shared an illustration about the ongoing hunger crisis in Gaza. “As I was making this, Israel has been bombing Gaza nonstop with successive airstrikes. Keep your eyes on Gaza and support @goprojecthope,” she said.
Duwaji’s work has been featured in major international outlets, such as The New Yorker, The Washington Post, BBC, Apple, Spotify, Vice and the Tate Modern. She has exhibited solo shows in Virginia and Beirut, and her portfolio includes editorial illustrations, screen prints, children’s illustrations and graphic novels.
She also makes her own ceramics – particularly illustrated plates in blue and white. During the Covid pandemic, she spent the majority of her time with her family in Dubai before moving to the US.
“I had wanted to move to New York pre-pandemic, so at some point, I finally moved. It was before vaccines were a thing, and I was in a new city where I didn't know as many people,” she told Yung magazine in 2022.
“I was trying to create a community when people weren’t being very social. I just started messaging cool creatives I knew from Instagram. And people are actually pretty open to meeting new people here. There’s nothing to lose. I’ve met a lot of great Arab-American artists that way.”
