Class of 2028

Saara Mahbouba is a second career J.D. candidate at Georgetown Law. Before beginning her legal studies, she spent a decade as an independent artist, researcher, writer, and organizer, translating complex research into accessible public scholarship through publications, artist books, videos, workshops, and lectures. Her interdisciplinary research focused on intersections of labor and identity, examining biocapitalism and the attention economy. Her work explored how contemporary media forms and technological systems shape public discourse, amplify disinformation, and reinforce structural inequalities affecting marginalized and precarized communities.

Alongside her research practice, Saara led grassroots advocacy and cultural organizing efforts in Helsinki, Finland. Notable positions include serving as Chair of Kiila Ry, a cultural workers’ association founded in 1936 to oppose fascism, censorship, and labor precarity, and as a board member of Catalysti, an advocacy organization for immigrant artists.

Her current legal interests are in the intersection of technology law and civil rights, particularly surveillance and the politicization and policing of marginalized communities and organizers, as well as information accessibility and the preservation of a digital commons.

Saara holds an M.A. in Visual Cultures, Curating, and Contemporary Art from Aalto University and a B.A. in Art History from New York University. Her work has been presented internationally at academic and cultural spaces across Europe, North America, and Asia, and supported by organizations like the Kone Foundation, Finnish Cultural Foundation, and FRAME Contemporary Art.