About...

Biography

Alia Ali (b. 1985, Austria) is a Yemeni-Bosnian-US multi-media artist whose work explores cultural binaries and confronts conflicted notions surrounding gender, politics, media, and citizenship. Working between language, photography, sculpture, video, and installation, Alia’s work addresses the politicization of the body, histories of colonization, imperialism, sexism, and racism through projects that take pattern as their primary motif.

Textile, in particular, has been a constant in the artist'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 and pattern to move past language and offer an expansive, experiential understanding of self, culture, and nation.

Alia’s practice expands into discourses of Yemeni Futurism where she offers counter-narratives to appropriation, violence and disregard. Her research calls upon oral histories to reframe nostalgic pasts and to confront dystopian realities of the present in order to carve out spaces for radically imagined futures.

Alia Ali is a graduate of Wellesley College (Political Sciences and Studio Art), the California Institute of the Arts (Photography and Media), and is a NIKON Global Ambassador. Her work has integrated the permanent collections of The British Museum, Museum of Contemporary Photography Chicago (MoCP), New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), and Princeton University, among others. Her monument "al-Falak" was funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation and now sits at the Arab American National Museum. Her work has been featured in publications including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Architectural Digest, and the Financial Times. Alia Ali's works and lives in and between New Orleans, Paris, Marrakech and Jaipur.

*The artist does not consider herself to be an “American” and therefore uses the term “US" - a United Statian in America. She strongly believes that those who can call themselves "Americans" are those native to the Americas. The United States in America is not a continent, but rather a singular government that has carved out man-made borders and has been built on histories of genocide, forced slavery and the active erasure of entire cultures- near and far. To this day, we witness how these violences continue to exist within geographical, legal and economic structures of the nation.

Forthcoming

EXHIBITIONS

Mahjar, screening, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (October 20, 2024)

Glitzch, solo exhibition, Benrubi Gallery, New York, NY (March 2025)

Chroma, solo exhibition, Octavia Gallery, New Orleans, LA (April 2025)

Regard, solo exhibition, LOFT Gallery, Marrakech, Morocco (September 2025)

Shreds, solo exhibition, Galerie Peter Sillem, Frankfurt, Germany (November 2025)

PUBLICATIONS

alia ali..., published by Hatje Cantz, release date February 2025

ART FAIRS

1:54 African Art Fair London, LOFT Gallery (October 10-13, 2024)

Paris Photo, LOFT Gallery (November 7-10, 2024)

Art Miami, Octavia Gallery (December 3-8, 2024)

ZonaMACO, Octavia Gallery (February 3-7, 2025)

Solo Exhibitions

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

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

Art Fairs

1:54 Marrakech, 1:54 London, Art Dubai, Art Paris, Art Miami, EXPO Chicago, Paris Photo, PhotoLondon, Photo Basel, Zona Maco, UNSEEN Amsterdam, UNTITLED Miami, art KARLSRUHE, De KunstRAI Art Fai

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

Writings & 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

Select Press

ARTICLES

PODCASTS

VIDEO

Contact

Studio Alia Ali

love@alia-ali.com

@alia.ali.art

Atelier Alia Ali (coming soon)

http://atelieraliaali.com

atelier@alia-ali.com

IG @atelier.alia.ali

(coming soon)