Comprised of five girls—founder and curator Sara Bin Safwan, Eman Bahrani, Aliyah Al Awadhi, Farrah Fray and Fatema Nooh—Banat Collective is an art platform showcasing emerging artists from the MENA region. With an aim to bring critical and intersectional thinking to the region, Banat serves as a point of connection between different backgrounds that are closely related, but can geographically feel far away.
On February 11, the collective released their first book entitled In the Middle of It All, which—over five chapters—utilised 31 collaborators to visually narrate the intricacies of growing up as a girl.
Puberty is a strong overarching theme of the book that uncovers personal histories and cultural intricacies, in order to give authentic representation of women from across the region, as well as to humanise them, rather than objectify them by exposing topics of stigma and deliberation.
Upon the release of the book, MILLE spoke to founder Sara Bin Safwan about media, representation and womanhood.
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