In honor of Mother’s Day, regional publishing platform MIDDLE EAST ARCHIVE (MEA) is back with a new title dubbed “WOMEN النساء.” For its eighth issue, the archival project shone a spotlight on the lives, images, and stories of women across the Middle East and North Africa through a body of work that sheds a rare light on the complex, even harsh, realities of womanhood on our side of the world.
Available for purchase since March 21, MEA’s team explained on their official Instagram page how they brought together “diverse photographic approaches and perspectives,” all centered, in one way or another, around “the plurality and contradiction present in women’s lives.”
“The book highlights the role of women in shaping family life, social structures and cultural memory, while also acknowledging how these roles shift across time and place,” they wrote.
Featuring the works of over 70 photographers — including some of the region’s most renowned image-takers such as Lebanese Myriam Boulos, Emirati Farah Al Qasimi, and Jordanian Nadia Bseiso — the publication brings together a wide spectrum of perspectives, all brought forward to capture the nuances of the female experience in the region.
Spanning over 200 pages, the hardcopy also includes an introductory text by MEA founder Romaissa Bandar, alongside two commissioned written contributions from Al Hayya Magazine editor Maya Moumne, Yemeni photographer Yumna Al Arashi, and one courtesy of Palestinian writer Haya Hamdallah.
Their last release, AN ARCHIVE OF LOVE VOL. II, published in September 2025, built on a first volume of the same name, keeping its central theme, love, only this time explored from the lens of loss rather than romance.
Click here to shop ‘WOMEN النساء’.