Overview
- Rama Duwaji boarded a flight from Newark earlier this week to Palma, Mallorca, to serve as artist-in-residence and host at a sold-out Women’s Sanctuary retreat called “Plants of the Quran.”
- Mayor Zohran Mamdani remained in New York for America 250 events, including public briefings and the Parade of Sail, while his wife was overseas.
- The Mallorca program runs midweek and lists a roughly $3,400 price per guest for art and botanical workshops, and Duwaji is also scheduled to co-host a second retreat in Corsica from July 9–14.
- Republican city officials and conservative commentators criticized the timing as inappropriate for the city’s first family, and reporting this year that highlighted deleted posts by Duwaji critical of U.S. policy has fueled the backlash.
- The mayor’s office confirmed Duwaji did not travel with the couple’s NYPD security detail, leaving open political questions about public optics, media framing, and whether the story will prompt further official response.