Model. Scholar. Performance Artist Meet Samira Mahboub
Samira Mahboub.
She doesn't fit into boxes — and that's entirely the point. Samira moves fluidly between continents, disciplines, and identities: model, gender scholar, performance artist, collector of Afghan jewelry, reader, desert-dweller. A woman who refuses to choose — and in doing so, redefines what it means to be all of the above.
SAMANIA — the art collective Samira co-founded with creative partner Ania Catherine — translates dense academic theory into visceral visual experiences. Rather than keeping critical thought within academic walls, SAMANIA takes it to the body, the stage, and the gaze of the audience.
Their work holds a mirror in front of the viewer — not as a moral authority, but as a mechanism for stimulating new perspectives and reflecting different realities.
Her Master's dissertation at LSE interrogated how Muslim identity is constructed, consumed, and contested in Western media and cultural spaces — laying the intellectual foundation for her performance practice.
"A mirror that is stimulating new perspectives and reflects different realities — not the moral police."
— Samira Mahboub on the work of SAMANIAMost interesting response to your performance art?
"I feel like I am watching something I am not supposed to watch — and at the same time I am mesmerised."
Many people feel challenged in their views, perceptions, ideas, values, and ethics — and express a feeling of struggle and discomfort. SAMANIA is interested in disrupting and challenging mainstream perceptions. I like to look at our work as a medium that holds a mirror in front of you. But not a mirror that is supposed to be the moral police. Rather a mirror that is stimulating new perspectives and reflecting different realities.
How do you view the fashion industry and modelling as a career?
Modelling to me is always a performance. A performance of concepts — and, what I find more intriguing — a performance of authenticity.
I look at modelling as a fascinating way to discover myself via body language, which is a constant medium of self-expression. It taught and still teaches me a lot about the relationship I have with myself, my body and mind.
I also see it as a promising platform — a stepping stone to gain visibility in the public and media, in order to use that voice to address social issues and take on global responsibility.
"I am passionate about addressing the still-existing lack of diversity within the industry."
"Between runway shows and research, she collects Afghan jewelry, reads voraciously, and finds solace in the desert."
SAMANIA by Alex Hodges
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