Draft:Maliha Abidi

Maliha Abidi is a Pakistani-American author, visual artist and activist.

Her work focuses on advocating for social justice including women’s rights, gender equality, girls' education and fighting for marginalised communities.

Abidi has been sharing st​ories of women from around the world through her art and illustrated books for over a decade. She has worked with organisations such as UN, Global Goals, Malala Fund, Chicago Bulls and Adobe. Her work has featured on various media platforms such as The New York Times. , Good Morning America, TRT World , Vogue Singapore and more.

Abidi is also the founder of Women Rise, an NFT project.

Early Life
Abidi was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan, and migrated to California, United States at the age of 14. She was interested in art from a young age and how it could be used to raise awareness of causes close to her heart.

Exhibitions
In 2024, Abidi exhibited 'Shifting Shadows', a piece exploring women's relationship with outdoor spaces in South Asia, at Outernet London. This piece was also the subject of her first solo show in October 2023 at Frameless Gallery in London. In 2023, Abidi exhibited her work 'Art Block' at Outernet where her work explored the state of an artist in burnout.

Published works
Abidi's first book, Pakistan for Women: Stories of Women Who Have Achieved Something Extraordinary, was self-published (4 March 2019). It was the first book of its kind to be published in Pakistan as it brings together stories of real Pakistani women, from astrophysicists to firefighter to mountaineers and more.

Abidi's second book, Rise: Extraordinary Women of Colour Who Changed the World (published 4 November 2021, Saqi Books) celebrates the stories of 100 remarkable women of colour. Women featured in the book include activist Malala Yousafzai, artist Yayoi Kusama, businesswoman Esther Afua Ocloo and publisher Margaret Busby.

Her most recent book, Journey to America: Celebrating Inspiring Immigrants Who Became Brilliant Scientists, Game-Changing Activists & Amazing Entertainers (published 5 July 2022, becker&mayer! kids) is an exploration of America’s rich history of diversity, profiling 20 immigrants and children of immigrants who have affected the nation’s culture or business. Aimed at children and young adults, profiles include Alexander Hamilton (founding father), Sergey Brin (Google co-founder) and Michelle Kwan (figure skater).

Women Rise
Women Rise is a Web3 initiative situated at the intersection of art, storytelling, activism and tech. The focus is on advancing women’s rights and girls’ education. Women Rise is a collection of 10,000 art pieces, generated using an algorithm developed in a collaborative effort by the developing team and the artist. This produced a set of beautiful visuals with vibrant colours showcasing a wide range of diverse backgrounds and professions. The collection includes images of female astronauts, scientists, artists and activists, plus ten unique pieces inspired by true stories of women from around the world.

Women Rise was launched in November 2021 and is one of the few projects run by a woman of colour. All 10,000 pieces sold out within four months. Abidi continually advocates for bringing more women into tech and she has spoken at conferences including SXSW, NFT.NYC and Veecon. In November 2022 she spoke at Meta Creator's Week at the Tate Modern in London to Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram. Her collection has been featured in Business Insider, The Guardian , Reuters , Rolling Stone , Vanity Fair and Forbes.

In March 2023, Women Rise ran an NFT Art Studio activation at the Girls Who Code fair, in celebration of their 10 year anniversary. Over three days, they interacted with over 3000 individuals, many of whom were young girls, to help them generate their own artworks and explore the use of coding in NFTs.

BackpackX
As part of Women Rise, Maliha and co-founder Aski Hassan launched BackpackX, a VR educational initiative in Pakistan in October 2023. BackpackX won at the European Metaverse Awards in the 'Most Innovative NFT Project' and was shortlisted in the Social Impact Media Awards.