Kareen is a Maldivian-Australian visual artist based in Melbourne, sharing her time between Maldives and Australia. The experience of living between multiple cultures, particularly negotiating between the East and the West informs her practice. Ideas about transitions, cultural identity, and the juncture between 'local' and the 'visitor' emerge in her work. Kareen explores these ideas using various mediums including printmaking, drawing, painting, digital media and video. 

Kareen’s most recent exhibition was organised during the fluctuating social restrictions of COVID-19 pandemic (13-19 July 2020, Collingwood, Victoria and online). Titled REAL HOLIDAYS TRAVEL AGENCY Pty Ltd, the multi-artform project explored and critiqued representations of island destinations and impact of the tourist gaze on perceptions about islands and their people. Forced to adapt her program at the last minute due to COVID-19 restrictions, the exhibition took the form of large street posters (displayed in the creative suburb of Collingwood), a video piece, as well as typical souvenir products such as post-cards, tea-towels, scarves and stickers. 

Highly motivated to support other artists and to bring creativity to the community Kareen as worked as co-director to the Maldives Whale Shark Festival (2015), gallery manager for Kids in Mind Art Gallery, Mater Child Youth Mental Health Service (2009-2013), amongst other collaborations with artists and NGOs in Maldives and Australia. She has exhibited her art in Maldives, Brisbane, Melbourne, Hong Kong, and the Asia Pacific region, and was one of the 15 commissioned artists in the award-winning visual art project Locked-In (Fringe Festival 2018), curated by Kimba Thompson of Blak Dot Gallery, Melbourne.

Kareen has a Diploma in Visual Arts from the Southbank Institute of Technology, Brisbane, a Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology from the Queensland University of Technology and recently completed a Master of Creative Industries from Melbourne Polytechnic.