The Fabric of (E)motion

At the centre of the showcase are full-body portraits in an increased variety of formats. The faceless models – who are sown entirely into colourful fabrics prior to the shoot – seem to have been captured in mid-motion. 

For the first time, Ali also works with the medium of sculpture: her re-imaginations of millennia-old artefacts from her home country of Yemen (which form part of her ‘Yemeni Futurism’ project) are displayed in the second room of the gallery. 

Alia Ali is a Yemeni-Bosnian-American multimedia artist whose work explores cultural dichotomies, questions culturally sanctioned oppression, and confronts the dualistic barriers associated with notions of gender, politics, media and nationality. Working with language, photography, video, textiles and installation, she addresses the politicisation of the body, the history of colonisation, imperialism, sexism and racism, with patterns and textiles as her primary subject matter. 

A graduate of Wellesley College and the California Institute of the Arts, Alia Ali lives and works in Marrakesh, Paris and Jaipur. In 2021, she was honoured with the ARTSY Vanguard Emerging Artist Award.

‘Frequencies’ can be viewed at the Peter Sillem Gallery until 16 December 2023.