Suzanne Mallouk (born September 10, 1960) is a Canadian-born painter, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst, based in New York City.
"[1] Mallouk was also involved in the pursuit of justice for the death of Michael Stewart, a boyfriend of hers and a fatality of police brutality in 1983.
Her Palestinian father and British mother, a naval officer, met and married in Beirut before moving to Canada.
Taken with Iggy Pop, in particular, and inspired by the book Rene Ricard: 1979–1980, she moved to New York City to become an artist, following art school at H.B.
[8] Basquiat referred to her as "Venus" in his paintings, as, for example, in A Panel of Experts (1982), which depicts a fight between Mallouk and Madonna, his girlfriend at the time.
[13] Mallouk was dating aspiring artist and model Michael Stewart at the time of his death from police brutality in 1983.
[10][14][15] Stewart, an African-American man, had been detained by the New York City Transit Police for writing graffiti in the subway and was brought to Bellevue Hospital battered.
[24][25] Later that year, she participated in the 92nd Street Y's "Artists' Hospitality Tour," where she discussed the development of her work with tourists in her studio.
[27] In the late 1980s, Mallouk performed under the name Ruby Desire at nightclubs such as Area, Madam Rosa's, and Palladium.
[6] She was signed to Les Disques Du Crépuscule and released a cover of Donna Summer's "Bad Girls" in 1987.
[32] She completed her internship in internal medicine and residency in general psychiatry at Beth Israel Medical Center.