Biography:
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Fatma Al Ali (b. 1994, UAE) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans sculpture, works on paper, moving image, and spatial installations. Engaging in archival excavation and the historiography of both oral and written histories, she interrogates narratives surrounding the pre-union Gulf, reframing colonial records, balancing critique with wry observation, through the lens of the land and its people. Her work draws from historical documents, oral accounts, and cultural memory to explore the ways in which identity, territory, and history are shaped, erased, and reimagined.
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Materiality in her work functions as both medium and message, with each material chosen for its physical qualities and its capacity to carry the cultural, historical, and geographic memory of the Gulf. She often works with geological matter such as sand, rocks, and soil collected from historically significant sites, along with found ephemera and archival images, embedding research into physical form. Through this interplay of materials and narratives, Al Ali creates works that act as counter-archives, resisting dominant historical frameworks and opening space for alternative ways of knowing.
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She holds a BFA in Fine Arts from the University of Sharjah (2018) and was a Salama Bint Hamdan Emerging Artist Fellow (2019) in collaboration with the Rhode Island School of Design. Her work has been presented internationally at Sotheby’s Maison, Hong Kong (2025); MENA Art Fair, Paris (2023); and regionally in Beyond Emerging Artist Commission at Abu Dhabi Art, UAE (2024); The Nest Festival at Alriwaq Gallery, Bahrain (2024); as well as at 421, Jameel Arts Centre, Alserkal Avenue, The Foundry, among others.