Alia Ali 1985

Lives in Roswell - New Mexico. Works in Roswell - New Mexico.

Represented by:

Contour Gallery

Alia Ali is a Yemeni-Bosnian-US multi-media artist. Having traveled to sixty-seven countries, lived in seven, and grown up among five languages, her most comfortable modes of communication are photography, video, and installation. Her travels have led her to process the world through interactive experiences and the belief that the damage of translation and interpretation of written language has dis-served particular communities, resulting in the threat of their exclusion, rather than a means of understanding. Alia's work reflects on contested notions of linguistics, identity, borders, universality, colonization, mental/physical confinement, and the inherent dualism that exists in each of them.

Her work has been featured in the Financial Times, Le Monde, Vogue, and Hyperallergic. Alia has won numerous awards and has exhibited internationally at Galerie Peter Sillem in Frankfurt, Galerie Siniya 28 in Marrakech, Gulf Photo Plus in Dubai, PhotoLondon, 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, the Lianzhou Photo Festival in China, the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam in the Netherlands, the Katzen Museum of Art in Washington DC, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College. Her work is included in the permanent collections at the Benton Museum at Pomona College, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and the British Museum. Alia serves on the board of Youth of the World Together (YWT) in Sana’a, Yemen, and Clockshop in Los Angeles, California.

Alia Ali lives and works in Los Angeles and Marrakech, and is currently in residency at the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program (RAiR) in Roswell, New Mexico.

Artworks

Articles

Media

Highlights

Recommendations

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Shows

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Artworks by Alia Ali

Migration - Rhythmic Equations

2021

€ 8.000 - € 10.000

Migration - Starry Dimensions

2021

€ 8.000 - € 10.000

Migration - Cosmic Vibrations

Articles on Alia Ali

Flash Back: The Solo Project Brussels

After nine editions in Basel, the first Belgian edition of The Solo Project (an initiative of Brussels gallerist Paul Kusseneers) took place from April 28 to May 1 in the fascinating Circularium in Brussels, an industrial site within walking distance of the South Station and Tour & Taxis, the venue of Art Brussels that took place at the same time.

Manuela Klerkx

Alia Ali: “Textile unites and divides us, both physically and symbolically.”

Until 9 January 2022, the exhibition 'Vocal Motifs’ with work by Alia Ali will be on show in Contour Gallery in Rotterdam. This multidisciplinary artist is a true global citizen. She was born in Austria to a Yemeni-American father and a Bosnian mother, she’s traveled to more than 60 countries and has lived in no fewer than seven countries. It is therefore not surprising that in her work, the artist focuses on cultures around geographical intersections.

Flor Linckens

Highlights

Indigo - HEX

Vocal Motifs

2021

About

een verhaal vertellen door stof te maken

She calls her photographs of figures wrapped in textile against a background of fabric 'cludes'. For artist Alia Ali (1985) they symbolize inclusivity and exclusivity, and migration and border politics. Big words, but in the life of the Bosnian-Yemeni Ali they were and are daily practice. How does a person, a child, relate to boundaries, especially if they are fought aggressively? She grew up in Bosnia and Yemen, with parents who had met as linguists on a plane. In both countries she experienced wars at a young age. "I was a child, I didn't understand why people would want to attack us."

Elsje Jorritsma

Shows

Vocal Motifs

Alia Ali

20 nov - 23 jan 2022, Rotterdam, Nederland

Unseen 2021

Alia Ali

16 sep - 19 sep 2021, Amsterdam, Nederland

In museum collection:

New Orleans Museum of Art

Benton Museum of Art, Pomona College of Art

Tucson Museum of Art

Anderson Museum of Art

The British Museum

In corporate collection:

DekaBank, Frankfurt, Germany

Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA

KRC collection

Market position

EDUCATION
MFA, Art: Photography & Media, California Institute of the Arts, 2020
BA, Studio Art and Middle Eastern Studies, Wellesley College, 2009

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Benton Museum of Art, Pomona College of Art, Claremont, California, USA
DekaBank, Frankfurt, Germany
New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA

AWARDS & GRANTS
2021 Creative Activism Award, Cultures of Resistance Network
2020 Photographer of the Year and Grand Prize, Chromatic Awards, International
2019 Diversity Grant, California Institute of the Arts, Santa Clarita, CA, USA
2018 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 Winner, Clyde & Co. Artist Award for the Middle East & North Africa, Dubai, UAE
2017 Winner, Emerging Artist Competition (US Jury), Magenta Foundation, Toronto, Canada
2016 Winner (Gold - Fine Art Category), Tokyo International Foto Awards 2016
2016 Winner (Silver - Abstract Category), Tokyo International Foto Awards 2016
2016 Winner, LensCulture Emerging Talent Awards 2016
2016 Winner, Alice C. Cole '42 Alumnae Award, Wellesley College
2016 Winner, Top 3 Select Juror's Awards, Kuala Lumpur International Photo Awards
2015 Rising Artist Award, Arts Connect International

CV

ALIA ALI (br. Austria 1985) Yemen-Bosnia-USA

EDUCATION
MFA, Art: Photography & Media, California Institute of the Arts, 2020
BA, Studio Art and Middle Eastern Studies, Wellesley College, 2009

EXHIBITIONS
Solo Exhibitions
2021 Refracted Futures curated by Aubrey Hobart, Roswell Museum and Art Center, March 5th through April 16th,
2021, Roswell, New Mexico, USA
2021 FLUX, Galerie Peter Sillem, Art Dubai Fair, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (forthcoming, March)
2021 Borderland, Foto Forum, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA (forthcoming, June)
2021 Alia Ali, curated by Erica Cheung, Foto Relevance, Houston, Texas, USA (forthcoming, July)
2021 Alia Ali, Galerie Peter Sillem, Frankfurt, Germany (forthcoming, September)
2021 Alia Ali, Contour Gallery, Rotterdam, Netherlands (forthcoming, September)
2020 Project Series 53: Alia Ali // The Red Star, curated by Rebecca McGrew and Hannah Grossman, Benton
Museum of Art, Pomona College, Pomona, California, USA
2020 FLUX, Galerie Peter Sillem, PhotoLondon, London, United Kingdom
2020 FLUX, Galerie Siniya 28, Intersect Aspen, Aspen, Colorado, USA
2020 FLUX, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
2020 Hommage, Galerie Siniya 28, Marrakech, Morocco
2019 FLUX, Galerie Peter Sillem, Frankfurt, Germany
2019 ALIA ALI, Galerie Siniya 28, 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Marrakech, Morocco
2019 ALIA ALI, Galerie Peter Sillem, art KARLSRUHE, Karlsruhe, Germany
2019 BORDERLAND, Galerie Peter Sillem, PhotoLondon, London, United Kingdom
2019 UNDER THREAD, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California, USA
2019 FLUX, Galerie Siniya 28, Marrakech, Morocco
2018 BORDERLAND, East of West Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
2018 BORDERLAND, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, Oregon, USA
2018 BORDERLAND, Dana Hall, Wellesley, Massachusetts, USA
2017 BORDERLAND, Gulf Photo Plus, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2017 BORDERLAND, Mondo Galeria, Madrid, Spain
2017 BORDERLAND, Galerie Siniya 28, Marrakech, Morocco
2017 +|-, Space Gallery, Portland, Maine, USA
2017 BORDERLAND, Emery Arts Center, Farmington, Maine, USA
2017 BORDERLAND, Peter Sillem Gallery, Frankfurt, Germany
2015 REFLECT, Center for Government & International Studies Harvard University,
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
2015 PROCESS, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA, USA

Select Group Exhibitions
2021 Reflections: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa, British Museum, London, United
Kingdom
2021 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
2020 Billboard Creative 2020, Los Angeles, California, USA
2019 Modest Fashion, curated by Rajae El Mouhandiz and Alexandra van Dongen, Stedelijk Museum Schiedam,
Schiedam, The Netherlands
2019 Text Comes from Textile, Currents Multi Media Festival, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
2018 Counterpose, curated by Andrew Siedenburg & Daniel Alcazar, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia,
California, USA
2018 Something Else, Off Biennale Cairo, Cairo, Egypt
2018 Tribe: Contemporary Photography from the Arab World, Katzen Museum, American University,
Washington D.C., USA
2018 Whether Weather, True False Film & Art Festival, Columbia, Missouri, USA
2017 Identity and the Selfie, curated by Joanna Lehan, Lianzhou Photo Festival, Lianzhou, China
2017 I AM, Caravan Arts, Katzen Museum, American University, Washington D.C., USA
2017 Ephemera Obscura curated by Aaron Levi Garvey, Group Show, Contemporary Arts
Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
2017 I AM, Caravan Arts, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London, UK
2017 I AM, Caravan Arts, National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman, Jordan Arab Women Artists
Now (AWAN Festival), Arts Canteen, London, UK
2017 Tokyo International Foto Awards Exhibition (TIFA), Tokyo, Japan
2016 Limitless 'n Infinite, Heritage Space, Hanoi, Vietnam
2016 Red, Gulf Photo Plus, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2016 Masks, SE Center of Photography, Greenville, South Carolina, USA
2016 Stillness & Distance, Kuala Lumpur International Photo Festival, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2016 Laboratoire de la Mondialité, KE’CH Collective, Marrakech Biennale 6 OFF, Marrakech, Morocco

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Benton Museum of Art, Pomona College of Art, Claremont, California, USA
DekaBank, Frankfurt, Germany
New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA

AWARDS & GRANTS
2021 Creative Activism Award, Cultures of Resistance Network
2020 Photographer of the Year and Grand Prize, Chromatic Awards, International
2019 Diversity Grant, California Institute of the Arts, Santa Clarita, CA, USA
2018 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 Winner, Clyde & Co. Artist Award for the Middle East & North Africa, Dubai, UAE
2017 Winner, Emerging Artist Competition (US Jury), Magenta Foundation, Toronto, Canada
2016 Winner (Gold - Fine Art Category), Tokyo International Foto Awards 2016
2016 Winner (Silver - Abstract Category), Tokyo International Foto Awards 2016
2016 Winner, LensCulture Emerging Talent Awards 2016
2016 Winner, Alice C. Cole '42 Alumnae Award, Wellesley College
2016 Winner, Top 3 Select Juror's Awards, Kuala Lumpur International Photo Awards
2015 Rising Artist Award, Arts Connect International

RESIDENCIES
2020-21 Roswell Artist-in-Residence, Roswell, New Mexico, USA
2020 New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
2020 CAFKA Biennial, Kitchener Waterloo, Canada
2020 Benton Museum of Art, Pomona College, Claremont, California, USA
2018 Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, Oregon
2018 Dana Hall Artist-in-Residence Program, Wellesley, Massachusetts, USA
2017 Space Gallery, Portland, Maine, USA
2017 True/False Residency, Columbia, Missouri, USA
2016 Indochina Arts Partnership, Hanoi, Vietnam
2016 Paradise AiR, Matsudo, Japan
2016 Obracadobra Artist Residency, Oaxaca, Mexico
2016 KE’CH Collective, Marrakech, Morocco
2015 Rising Artist Residency, Arts Connect International, New Orleans, USA
2015 Le 18, Marrakech, Morocco

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