Maliha Abidi is a Pakistani-American artist and author with a focus on women empowerment pieces of art and writing.
Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Abidi moved to San Diego, California at the age of fourteen where she had her first art exhibition. Abidi has not had any training in art or writing. At 21, she moved to the UK after getting married. She got admission in University and became Medical Neuroscience student while also professionally continuing her work as an artist. Abidi set up her art studio in England, and that is where the idea for her debut book “Pakistan for Women: Stories of women who have achieved something extraordinary” came into existence.
She worked on the book for over a year where she researched stories of more than 100 women of Pakistan and narrowed it down to 50 names. After the initial list, she drew portraits of 50 women with the use of art supplies she got on discount because of being a part-time employee at an art store in Brighton, Uk.
After the initial announcement on the 13th of January 2019, on 4th of March 2019, Abidi launched her book. It is the first book of its kind to be published in Pakistan as it brings together stories of real Pakistani women, from female astrophysicists to female educators to female firefighter, in a storytelling form.