I remember spending a lot of time in my father’s library as a child. It must have worried him because he’d take me out and say, “You have to learn to read the desert. You have to learn to read the sea”.  

Fareed Abdal, 2015. 

b. 1957, Kuwait

Fareed Abdal is a artist, architect and environmental activist. He has a Bachelor of Science in Architecture (1980) and a Master of Architecture (1983) from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. For 20 years he led his own architectural firm, Fareed Abdal Architects & Consultants. From 2004 to 2024 he taught in the School of Architecture in Kuwait University.

Fareed Abdal has presented talks in various institutions including the Kennedy Center (Washington D.C.), the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras (San Juan), Dar Al Athar Al Islamiyyah (Kuwait) and the Kuwait Society of Engineers (Kuwait). His work has been exhibited at Dar Al Funoon (Kuwait), Tilal Gallery (Kuwait), Funoon Jamila (Kuwait), the Kennedy Center (Washington D.C.), Bargehouse (London), Art Heritage (New Delhi), Sultan Gallery (Kuwait) and the World Calligraphy Biennale (Jeollabuk-do, South Korea).