Shurooq Amin Height, Age, Children, Biography

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Bio/Wiki
Profession	Painter, Poet
Physical Stats
Height (approx.)	5' 7" (170 cm)
Eye Colour	Black
Hair Colour	Light Golden Blonde
Career
Records (main ones)	• The first female artist from Kuwait to be auctioned at Christie’s auction house • The first Kuwaiti to be nominated for the Pushcart Prize in the USA (December 2007) • The first woman from Kuwait to be interviewed by BBC’s Stephen Sackur on the HARD Talk TV show (November 2014) • The first artist from Kuwait to enter the world of NFT art (2021) • The first Kuwaiti female artist to show her work at the Venice Biennale (56th International Venice Biennale, Italy, May to November 2015) • The first Kuwaiti artist to mint, list, and sell her artworks as NFTs • Founded and curated Kuwait’s First IRL NFT Exhibition (WAGMI) • The first NFT artist to establish a Twitter Space for the Middle Eastern & North African community
Awards, Honours, Achievements	• Artist of the Year by the Arab Woman Awards (April 2013) • Top 50 GCC Women Leaders award by World Brand Congress (2016 October) • Extraordinary Women In Leadership award, Dubai (2016 October) • Award for Grand Jury duty in the World E-Summit Award, by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (March 2009) • Award for the Cairo International Art Biennale (Dec 2008) • Award from UNESCO, cultural week, Kuwait (2009) • Third place award for “The Other Wife” from Perigee: Publication for the Arts poetry competition (2007) • Award for Poetry Reading at the American University of Kuwait (2006) • Award for paintings exhibited at the 44th National Day and 14th Liberation Day Exhibition from the Kuwait Arts Association, Kuwait (2005) • Award for the First Kuwaiti Al-Khorafi Biennale in December 2004 from the Kuwait Arts Association, Kuwait (2004)
Personal Life
Date of Birth	10 October 1967 (Tuesday)
Age (as of 2024)	57 Years
Birthplace	Kuwait
Zodiac sign	Libra
Nationality	Kuwaiti
School	New English School, Kuwait
College/University	• Kuwait University, Kuwait City • Kent University, England • Warnborough College, Canterbury, England
Educational Qualification	• BA in English Literature from Kuwait University (1988) • Master’s Degree in Modern Literature from Kent University (1989) • PhD in Creative Writing from Warnborough College (2007)
Food Habit	Non-vegetarian
Tattoo(s)	• Right Arm Wrist • Right Forearm • Right Tricep • Left Bicep • Left Forearm • Left Arm Wrist
Social Media	• Instagram • YouTube • Twitter • LinkedIn
Relationships & More
Marital Status	Divorced
Family
Children	4

Some Lesser Known Facts About Shurooq Amin

Shurooq was nine years old when she participated in her first group art exhibition at the Ahmed Al-Adwani exhibition hall in Dahiat Abdullah Al-Salem, Kuwait, in 1977.

Shurooq was born and raised in Kuwait to a Kuwaiti father and Syrian mother. Her father passed away when she was 11 years old.

Shurooq’s first solo exhibition was in 1992. Since then, she has had more than 50 group exhibitions and 15 solo exhibitions to her name.

Besides painting, Shurooq is also a poet. She published the poetry collection Kuwaiti Butterfly Unveiled in 1994. Her poetry has been published and featured in over 40 literary journals worldwide, including Words-Myth, Etchings, Diode, and Beauty/Truth. In 2007, she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for her poem Framboise Fig and Bronze Nude.

In 2010, Shurooq Amin’s painting Society Girls was sold for $28,000 at the Auction of Contemporary Arab and Iranian Art in Kuwait, organised by Lulu Al-Sabah and auctioned by Aileen Philips de Pury.

In December 2011, Shurooq featured as a judge in Red Bull’s international art competition Art of Can, Kuwait.

In 2012, Shurooq was nominated as one of Kuwait’s 46 Inspirational People in Sheikha Intisar Al-Sabah’s book The Alchemy of Wisdom.

In March 2012, Shurooq’s solo exhibition of her series ‘It’s a Man’s World’ in Kuwait’s Al M. Gallery was shut down by the Kuwaiti authorities, citing it inappropriate according to the Kuwaiti culture. Officials took photographs of the paintings, which were later sent to the Ministry of Interior Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce. The paintings were then removed from there.
Photo of Shurooq Amin’s painting, It’s a Man’s World

Shurooq’s artwork ‘Blind New World’ was auctioned and sold at London’s Automobile Club in October 2013. All the proceeds from the auction were donated to the charity for the benefit of the children in Syria.

Shurooq was nominated for the 2014/2015 Sovereign Asian Art Prize by Art Radar in October 2014.

In October 2016, Shurooq’s name was included in the list of the top 50 GCC Women Leaders. In the same month, she featured as a speaker at the Global Economic Forum: Women in Leadership and was also nominated for the Extraordinary Women’s Awards by ECCO, Dubai.

Shurooq’s second volume of poetry, The Hanging of the Wind, is taught as part of the contemporary literature curriculum in universities in the Gulf region.

Shurooq completed an art residency in 2017 at Art Omi International in New York.

In 2022, Shurooq was featured in Influent Online as the first Kuwaiti artist to utilise NFT technology in art.

Shurooq founded and curated Kuwait’s First IRL NFT Exhibition, WAGMI, in 2022.

Shurooq has regularly appeared in interviews on platforms like YouTube as well as Arab news channels like Annahar News channel, NuqtaDoc from Saudi Arabia, The National News (UAE), and Kuwait Times & Kuwait News (Kuwait), as well as Middle Eastern magazines like SEKKA.

In October 2022, Shurooq collaborated in a paid partnership with Cole Haan to promote the brand for one month, with a photo shoot, video, and social media presence.