My zine titled “7 Days in Kuwait” is a visual representation into the different aspects of the Kuwaiti culture. At first it was supposed to be a general portrayal and then I decided to turn it into a more personal adaptation. During the process of creating the images I realized that there is no accurate way of “generally” portraying what a country is like, that makes sense to everyone. That’s when I started to curate the images based on what a trip back home would look like for me, a 21-year-old who only gets to be in the place, where people understand her the most, a small portion of the year. Not sticking to a direct motif, I show the good parts, the bad parts, the silly parts, and the more metaphoric and deep parts that I can identify with.
I was inspired by a zine that I carry with me that has a digital map of the city. It was created by a group of local artists and is found in several local coffee shops and bakeries around the city. Combining the Arab culture with the western culture I am engulfed in right now is the reoccurring pattern you could see throughout the zine. The themes being the Arab culture and the style of art being the western culture. One of my favorite parts of the zine is when you open the booklet and find that the front cover and back cover merge into the same setting, which is not very noticeable at first. I found that this zine brought me closer to home and was a way to reminisce on my favorite aspects of my culture.
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