- About...
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.
Forthcoming
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 19
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
Solo Exhibitions
2025
Jameel Art Fellowship, Victoria & Albert, London, UK
Timespace, Galerie Peter Sillem, Frankfurt, Germany
fluorescent fields, Octavia Gallery, New Orleans, LA
GLITZCH, Benrubi Gallery, New York, NY
2024
LOVE, El Fenn, Marrakech, Morocco
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 & Biennales
2025
Mad Heart, Be Brave, curated by Sadaf Padder, Fridman Gallery, Chelsea, New York, NY
Systems & Sequence: Pattern and Ornament in Contemporary Art, curated by Leo Barnes. Oakland University Art Gallery, Rochester, Michigan
Deconstruction, Reconstruction. Textile Triennial, curated by Bukola Oyebode and Marta Kowalewska. Centralne Muzeum Włókiennictwa w Łodzi (Central Museum of Textile in Łodz, Poland)
Incarceration, Lagos Photo, curated by Maria Pia Bernardoni, Robin Riskin and Courage Kpodo. Lagos, Nigeria
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
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
- The New York Times (Print) - December 7th
- Elle Magazine
- Architectural Digest
- NIKON
- Hyperallergic on Yemeni Futurism
- Hyperallergic on the Politics of Threa
- Harpers Bazaar
- Glasstire
- Financial Times
- artmejo
- ADOBE Creative Artist Features
- Musee Magazine
- Konbini Arts & Culture
- ArtReview
- LensCulture
- Diptych Mag
- OURS Photo Magazine
PODCASTS
VIDEO
Contact
Zoe Wang
contact@alia-ali.com
@alia.ali.art