Rama Duwaji, the 28-year-old artist who will become New York’s youngest first lady when Zohran Mamdani takes office in January, has spent years expressing fierce political views through her art. Duwaji kept a low public profile during Mamdani’s campaign. However, her illustrations and posts reveal firm positions on American foreign policy and Israel’s actions in Gaza, which is not liked by conservatives and MAGA activists who consider them propaganda.
In mid-October, she posted four broken heart emojis with a photo of Saleh Al-Jafarawi on her Instagram story. Jafarawi was described as a pro-Hamas activist by Israel, and he was killed in Gaza by an anti-Hamas militia on October 12. “Beloved Jafarawi,” her post read.Her online work shows repeated condemnation of US and its relationship with Israel. One 2024 illustration features towering stacks of cash labeled “Israeli war crimes”. Mamdani commented under it, writing, “New York charities send over 60 million dollars every year to fund Israeli war crimes, and that number is only growing.” He urged supporters to lobby officials to end donations. In a 2020 piece showing two women and children beneath smoke from a distant aircraft, the caption states, “Presidents come and go, but American imperialism never changes.” Another animation from May depicts starving Palestinians with the words “Not a hunger crisis” before ending on the phrase, “It is deliberate starvation.”Duwaji’s path to New York was shaped by her Syrian-American family. Her mother, Dr Bariah Dardari, trained and worked as a pediatrician in New Jersey before taking leadership roles in hospitals across the UAE. She has also joined humanitarian missions to Syria and Gaza through the Syrian American Medical Society. Duwaji grew up in Texas and New Jersey before the family relocated to Dubai in 2006, reports the New York Post. Though quiet during the campaign, she reportedly helped shape Mamdani’s image and messaging. Fashion outlets have praised her style, with friends comparing her to “our modern-day Princess Diana”. Her work has appeared in the New Yorker and BBC. She told online magazine Yung in April, “My art stays being a reflection of what’s happening around me, but right now what feels even more useful than my role as an artist, is my role as a US citizen. With so many people being pushed out and silenced by fear, all I can do is use my voice to speak out about what’s happening in the US and Palestine and Syria as much as I can.”
