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About

Alia Ali is an artist whose practice is informed by Yemeni cultural heritage and shaped by a life lived through movement, displacement, and sustained research. Working in collaboration with Indigenous communities globally, her multimedia practice engages material traditions and shared systems through which knowledge circulates across place and time.

Grounded in the present while attentive to both ancestral memory and futurist thought, Ali’s work challenges the tendency to frame Indigenous cultures solely through the past. Instead, her practice considers how the deep histories carried through material, ritual, and language are essential to imagining futures—how looking further back enables us to see further forward.

Language forms a central foundation of Ali’s work, understood not only as verbal or written communication but as something embodied and lived. Across photography, textiles, sculpture, and installation, she engages cultural memory, lived histories, and lineage, while examining asymmetries of power and the ways knowledge is preserved, transmitted, and reimagined beyond dominant representational frameworks.

Alia Ali is a Jameel Fellow at the Victoria and Albert Museum and a Global Nikon Ambassador. Her work is held in notable public collections around the world and has been featured in publications including The New York Times and the Financial Times.

Exhibitions

2026

The Blues... Octavia Gallery, London, UK. May 7th

Alia Ali, Gilman Contemporary, Ketchum, ID, July 2nd

In Light of..., curated by Nina Toppila & Eeva Holkeri, Helsingin Taidehalli / Helsinki Museum, Helsinki. August 20

Hommage, Octavia Gallery, New Orleans, LA. Oct. 3

Stories of Garments, special commission, curated by Madeleine Haddon, with the support of V&A East and the Jameel Arts Foundation. Victoria & Albert East. Nov. 7th

The Momentary Artist-in-Residence, Crystal Bridges, Bentonville, AR. Oct. 7 - Dec. 31

Awards

The Momentary Artist-in-Residence, Crystal Bridges, AR. 2026

Jameel Art Fellowship, V&A Museum, London, UK. 2025

Andrew Mellon Foundation of the Arts, New York, NY, 2022

Artsy Vanguard Prize, International, 2022

Creative Activism Award, Cultures of Resistance Network, 2021

Photographer of the Year, Chromatic Awards, 2020

Diversity Grant, California Institute of the Arts, CA, USA, 2019

Allan Sekula Social Documentary Grant, CALARTS, CA. 2018

Lillian Disney Scholarship, CALRTS, CA. 2018

Clyde & Co. Artist Award - MENA Region, Dubai, 2018

Emerging Artist, Magenta Foundation, Toronto, Canada, 2017

Gold, Fine Art , Tokyo Foto Awards, 2016

LensCulture Emerging Talent Awards, 2016

Alice C. Cole '42 Alumnae Award, Wellesley College, 2016

Juror's Award, Kuala Lumpur International Photo Awards, 2016

Rising Artist Award, Arts Connect International, 2015

Most Distinguished Artist Award, Wellesley College, 2019

Publications

alia ali..., a multi-graph by Alia Ali, edited by Kristi Ann Jones, designed by Studio Lin, published by Hatje Cantz. Release fate February 2025

In Collective Rise, z33 Contemporary Museum of Art & Design, 2022-23

Project Series 93: Alia Ali, Benton Museum of Art, 2020-22

Shades of Blue, Allison Young, 2021

Cartographies of Pattern, design by Zan Zeller, 2021

BORDERLAND, Blue Sky Gallery, design by Chris by Rauschenburg Foundation, 2017

Collections

  • Anderson Museum of Art, Roswell, New Mexico
  • Arab American National Museum, Dearborn, Michigan
  • Arles Art Collection, Arles, France
  • Benton Museum of Art, Claremont, CA
  • The British Museum, London, UK
  • DekaBank, Frankfurt, Germany
  • Morgan Stanley Bank, New York, NY
  • Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL
  • New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
  • Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
  • Progressive Art Collection, New York, NY
  • Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
  • Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
  • Vontobel Bank, Switzerland
  • KRC Collection, Netherlands

Artisans

UZBEK IKATS

Alesouk, Rustam Fayiez, Bokhara, Uzbekistan

MASAAI SHUKAS

Nkoroi Crafts, Grace Joseph Maina, Nairobi, Kenya

Jiwe, Michael Mwangi, Nairobi, Kenya

AFRICAN DUTCH WAX FABRICS

Kais Couture, Mariam Olatunde, Lagos, Nigeria

House of Mami Wata, Chioma Duru, Accra, Atlanta & Lagos

Ashanti Empress, Ruby Maya, Accra & Bristol

RED DZAO INDIGO DYED TEXTILES AND GARMENTS

Tamay & Me, Taphin, SAPA, Vietnam & Bristol, UK

RAJASTHANI INDIAN BLOCK PRINT

Born & Thread, Sachin Chippa, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

JAVANESE BATIK

Abhati Batik & Natural Dye Studio, Putri Angitta, Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia

Fairs

1:54 Marrakech & London

Art Dubai

Art Paris

EXPO Chicago

Paris Photo

PhotoLondon

Photo Basel

Zona Maco

UNSEEN Amsterdam

UNTITLED Miami

art KARLSRUHE

De KunstRAI Art Fair

Press

ARTICLES

PODCASTS

VIDEO

Contact

Zoe Wang

contact@alia-ali.com

@alia.ali.art

Last updated 28.1.26