Manal AlDowayan is a conceptual artist with a research-based practice, born and raised in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Mainly producing in the medium of photography, AlDowayan often works in collaboration with invited women participants to address subjects spanning feminist politics and collective remembering within the Gulf region and beyond. AlDowayan has a Masters degree in Systems Analysis and Design and worked as the Creative Director of the Saudi Arabian oil company for ten years before becoming a full-time artist. She has participated in several residencies including: Delfina Foundation in London, The Town House Gallery in Cairo, and Mathaf: Project Space in Doha.

AlDowayan has been inducted into various cultural leadership initiatives including the Clore Leadership program and the British Council International Cultural Leaders program. She has also been invited as the key note speaker in many international conferences and seminars; most recently at the Clinton Foundation in Little Rock, Arkansas as part of the Club de Madrid’s 2012 annual conference, entitled “Harnessing 21st Century Solutions: A Focus on Women” and at “Beyond Borders, The Platform for Small Nation Dialogue and Cultural Exchange” in Scotland 2012.

Manal AlDowayan has participated in international exhibitions including the The American Biennale: Prospect 3 in New Orleans 2014, collateral shows at Venice Biennale in 2011 and 2009, the Berlin Biennale in 2010, and in a collateral exhibition that coincided with Contemporary Istanbul in 2010. Her works are included in the permanent collections of the British Museum, LA County Museum, Mathaf Museum of Modern Arab Art, the Jordan National Museum of Fine Art, the Abdul Latif Jamil Foundation, the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH), the Nadour Foundation, and the Barjeel Foundation. Manal AlDowayan is represented by Cuadro Gallery in Dubai. She currently lives and works between her native Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and Dubai, UAE.

May Abdallah Al-Dabbagh is an Assistant Professor of Social Research and Public Policy at New York University Abu Dhabi with an associated appointment at the Robert Wagner School of Public Service at NYU in New York. Previously, she was the Founder and Director of the Gender and Public Policy Program at the Dubai School of Government and a Research Fellow at the Women and Public Policy Program, HKS, Harvard University.

Al-Dabbagh is a specialist on gender and globalization in the Middle East and has conducted research on the topic using a combination of social psychology, public policy, and feminist lenses. Her current research projects include: the psychology of globalization; gender and negotiation; feminist activism in Saudi Arabia, and the intersections of family formation and women’s work in the Gulf Cooperative Council countries (GCC). Al-Dabbagh has publications in both academic and policy outlets in Arabic and English and her work has been featured in over 40 local, regional, and international media outlets. She is a member of a number of local and international associations such as the Arab Women and Gender Studies Consortium in the UAE, the Development Forum (Academic Social Sciences Society in the GCC), and the Saudi Sunday group (Multaqa Ahadi), the Academy of Management (AOM) and the American Psychological Association (APA).

Al-Dabbagh is a graduate of Dhahran Ahliyya Schools in Saudi Arabia, received a B.A. in Psychology (with high honors) from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Oxford. She is married to Hashem Montasser and they have one son, Abdallah, who keeps them both highly entertained.