Eman Ali is an Omani-Bahraini visual artist based between London and Oman. In 2008 she graduated from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design with a BA in Graphic Design, and then from the Royal College of Art in 2017 with an MA in Photography. She was a Single Image winner at the British Journal of Photography 2020 Female in Focus Awards, and her previous clients include Ffotogallery Wales, BMW, Adidas, and The Standard Hotel, among others.
Ali’s work interlaces gender, religious and socio-political ideologies under the umbrella of sexuality and the performance of gender. Ali questions these cultural complexities by exploring its manifestations in the Arab world, focusing on contemporary khaleeji (from the Arabian Peninsula) society and most recently, East Africa. She explores these themes through a hybrid of artistic expression ranging from image-making to text, light installation and sound.
Her portfolio includes projects such as Utendi, an ongoing series about the representation and power of the feminine in Swahili culture, and Succession, a series that explores her concern for Oman’s political future through the use of archival material that focuses on the first decade of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said’s rule, and prompts consideration of themes such as national identity, history, memory, and loss.
Portfolio
