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Biography
Alia Ali (Arabic: عاليه علي // Sabean: 𐩲𐩱𐩡𐩺𐩲|𐩲𐩱𐩡) is a Yemeni-Bosnian-US multi-media artist whose work explores cultural binaries, challenges culturally sanctioned oppression, and confronts the dualistic barriers of conflicted notions of gender, politics, media, and citizenship. Working between language, photography, video, textile, and installation, Ali’s work addresses the politicization of the body, histories of colonization, imperialism, sexism, and racism through projects that take pattern and textile as their primary motif.
Textile, in particular, has been a constant in Ali’s practice. Her strong belief that textile is significant to all of us, reminds us that we are born into it, we sleep in it, we eat on it, we define ourselves by it, we shield ourselves with it, and eventually, we die in it. While it unites us, it also divides us physically and symbolically. Her work broadens into immersive installations utilizing light, pattern, and textile to move past language and offer an expansive, experiential understanding of self, culture, and nation.
Ali’s research and practice are also informed by discourses of criminality, Yemeni Futurism, and feminist theory, all of which are tools to unpack practices of refusal and rupture. Ali calls upon oral histories to conceptualize these narratives, while reflecting on contemporary circumstances, in her native land Yemen, her adopted land the United States and the endless places and people that continue to inspire her. Ali is currently expanding her practice by drawing on stories from Yemen including the nostalgic past of Queen Belquis of Saba (also known as the Queen of Sheba). By investigating histories of the distant past, she addresses the realities of the dystopian present in order to carve out spaces for radically imagined possibilities for the future in what has evolved to be Yemeni Futurism.
Ali is a graduate of Wellesley College and the California Institute of the Arts. She lives and works in and between New Orleans, Paris and Jaipur and is the recipient of the prestigious ARTSY Vanguard Emerging Artist Award and is a NIKON Global Ambassador.
Solo Exhibitions
2025
Glitzch, Benrubi Gallery, New York, NY (upcoming, March 2025)
Hommage, Octavia Gallery, New Orleans, LA (upcoming, April 2025)
2024
LOVE, El Fenn, Marrakech, 2024 (currently on view)
Horizon Rising, Siniya 28, Marrakech, Morocco
2023
Frequencies, Galerie Peter Sillem, Frankfurt, Germany
Azure, Octavia Art Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana
Wanderlust, Octavia Art Gallery, New York, NY
2022
In Collective Rise, curated by Annelies Thoelen & Branko Popvic, z33 Contemporary Art & Design, Hasselt, Belgium
Al Falak, commissioned work by the Andrew Mellon Foundation, Arab American National Museum, Dearborn, MI, USA
Blue Notes, Foto Relevance, participating gallery of FotoFest Biennial, Houston, TX, USA
حب (ḥub) // LOVE, curated by Rebecca McGrew, Benton Museum of Art, Claremont, CA
2021
FLUX & FLOW, Galerie Peter Sillem, Frankfurt, Germany
Vocal Motifs, Contour Gallery, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Mot(if), 193 Gallery, Paris, France
Patterned Paradigms, Octavia Gallery, New Orleans, LA, USA
Cartographies of Pattern, curated by Erica Cheung, Foto Relevance, Houston, TX, USA
Refracted Futures curation Aubrey Hobart, Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell, NM, USA
2020
Project Series 53: Alia Ali // The Red Star, curated by Rebecca McGrew and Hannah Grossman, Benton Museum of Art, Pomona College, Pomona, CA, USA
FLUX, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA, USA
Hommage, Galerie Siniya 28, Marrakech, Morocco
2019
FLUX, Galerie Peter Sillem, Frankfurt, Germany
UNDER THREAD, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, USA
FLUX, Galerie Siniya 28, Marrakech, Morocco
2018
BORDERLAND, East of West Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, USA
BORDERLAND, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR, USA
2017
BORDERLAND, Gulf Photo Plus, Dubai, UAE
BORDERLAND, Mondo Galeria, Madrid, Spain
BORDERLAND, Galerie Siniya 28, Marrakech, Morocco
+|-, Space Gallery, Portland, ME, USA
BORDERLAND, Peter Sillem Gallery, Frankfurt, Germany
2015
REFLECT, Center for Government & International Studies Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
PROCESS, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA, USA
Group Exhibitions & Biennials
2024
Connectivity, Mumbai Biennale, curated by Giulia Ambrogi, Mumbai, India (upcoming, November 2024)
POPPY Series, Ties that Bind, State of Fashion Biennale, curated by Rachel Dedman and Louise Bennetts, Arnhem, Netherlands
Mahjar & The Collective, Multi-Futures Group Exhibition curated by Rachael Kiang, Canterbury Bankstown, Sydney, Australia
2022
…or was it a dream?, Gallery 193 Dorsoduro, Venice Biennale Off Projects, Venice, Italy
2021
Reflections: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa, British Museum, London, UK
Conflict is More Profitable Than Peace and مهجر // Mahjar, FotoWein, Kunst Haus Wein, Museum HundertWasser, Vienna, Austria
2020
Phantoms, Ruins, and Reflections, European High Commission, Brussels, Belgium
Billboard Creative 2020, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2019
Modest Fashion, curated by Rajae El Mouhandiz and Alexandra van Dongen, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Schiedam, Netherlands
Text Comes from Textile, Currents Multi Media Festival, Santa Fe, NM, USA
2018
Counterpose, curated by Andrew Siedenburg & Daniel Alcazar, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, USA
Something Else, Off Biennale Cairo, Cairo, Egypt
Tribe: Contemporary Photography from the Arab World, Katzen Museum, American University,Washington D.C.
Whether Weather, True False Film & Art Festival, Columbia, Missouri, USA
2017
Identity and the Selfie, curated by Joanna Lehan, Lianzhou Photo Festival, Lianzhou, China
Ephemera Obscura, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA, USA
I AM, Caravan Arts, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London, UK
I AM, Caravan Arts, National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman, Jordan Arab Women Artists Now (AWAN Festival), Arts Canteen, London, UK
2016
Limitless 'n Infinite, Heritage Space, Hanoi, Vietnam
Masks, SE Center of Photography, Greenville, South Carolina, USA
Stillness & Distance, Kuala Lumpur International Photo Festival, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Laboratoire de la Mondialité, KE’CH Collective, Marrakech Biennale 6 OFF, Marrakech, Morocco
2015
Currents, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA, USA
Shades of Inclusion, Open Door Gallery, Boston, MA, USA
+91, Le Dix Huit Espace d’Art, Marrakech, Morocco
Awards & Grants
Andrew Mellon Foundation of the Arts, New York, NY, 2022
The Artsy Vanguard Prize, International, 2022
Creative Activism Award, Cultures of Resistance Network, 2021
Photographer of the Year and Grand Prize, Chromatic Awards, International, 2020
Diversity Grant, California Institute of the Arts, Santa Clarita, CA, USA, 2019
Allan Sekula Social Documentary Grant, California Institute of the Arts, CA, USA, 2018
Lillian Disney Scholarship, California Institute of the Arts, Santa Clarita, CA, USA, 2018
Clyde & Co. Artist Award for the Middle East & North Africa, Dubai, UAE, 2018
Emerging Artist Competition (US Jury), Magenta Foundation, Toronto, Canada, 2017
Gold - Fine Art Category, Tokyo International Foto Awards 2016, 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
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
- 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
Art Fairs
Upcoming: Paris Photo, 1:54 African Art Fair London, Art Miami
Previously: Art Dubai, Art Paris, Art Miami, EXPO Chicago, PhotoLondon, Photo Basel, Zona Maco, UNSEEN Amsterdam, UNTITLED Miami, art KARLSRUHE, De KunstRAI Art Fair
Contact
Studio Alia Ali
love@alia-ali.com
Instagram @studio.alia.ali
Benrubi Gallery 529 W 20th St Floor 8, New York, NY 10011
rachel@benrubigallery.com // renee@benrubigallery.com
13 rue El Kaïssi, Triangle d’or, Bourgogne, Casablanca, Morocco contact@loftartgallery.net
700 Magazine St Ste. 103, New Orleans, LA 70130 art@octaviaartgallery.com
Press
Additional Readings & Publications
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