A biography for Alek Wekhasn’t been written yet.
“I never thought I would see a free South Sudan.”
“My life was filled with family in South Sudan. I am the seventh of nine children, and we grew up in what would be considered a middle-class family. We did not have a lot, but we did have more than a lot of other people.”
“There's one thing we all share: We eat to nurture ourselves, to feel stronger.”
“For me, it always goes back to what my mother taught me and my sisters. That all women are beautiful, and we should embrace each other.”
“I don't understand when people are being greedy or mean, when they say who should get what, when they get control of someone else's life.”
“I know how it feels to go hungry.”
“I could never understand why other kids wanted to truant - my education here gave me everything. It's the place where I really got to flourish.”
“When I was working, there was no digital. We actually worked; we used Polaroids.”
“I grew up in southern Sudan, one of nine children. Our life was simple but very happy.”
“I would love to continue to model but also have a family.”
“I think beauty is not just about what we put on our heads or on our faces or what we wear: it's deeper than that, and if we can celebrate that, celebrate the women, not just the superficiality... I think it would be really gorgeous.”
“I had serious psoriasis as a child - it's strange that I make my living off my looks after years of looking like a monster.”
“You could fancy what you'd like, but as a woman, my mother always raised us to believe in ourselves. I am very grateful that my mother brought me up that way.”
“We eat to live.”
“I had jobs from the age of 14, when I arrived in London as a refugee. Aged 17, I'd get up at 4 A.M. to work as a cleaner before school. It wasn't pleasant.”
“When I first started modeling, I realised I was very different from many of my colleagues, but I welcomed the opportunities my career in fashion offered me and the support from many inspiring individuals in the fashion industry.”
“Going back to South Sudan after the independence took place was deeply emotional for me because I had gone through the civil war with my family just before going to seek refuge in London.”
“Beauty is subjective and should not be limited to only what we see on the outside.”
“I use Johnson & Johnson! I use their baby oil gel.”
“Leaving southern Sudan as a child was terrifying. It was 1985, and my family and I were trying to escape to Khartoum, the capital in the North, to safety.”