Sophia Al-Maria (b. 1983, Tacoma, USA), lives in London

Sophia Al-Maria’s work spans many disciplines including drawing, collage, sculpture and film. It is united by a preoccupation with the power of storytelling and myth, interrogates the enduring orientalist gaze and residual histories of resource extraction and colonial authority in the context of contemporary culture and society. Her works can be viewed as a deep investigation and dramatisation of the sociopolitical, economic, and environmental present, weaving together collective and personal narratives.

Al-Maria has had solo exhibitions at Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar; Tate Britain, London; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; among other institutions. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at the ICA, London; LUMA Arles, France; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the New Museum, New York; the Palais de Tokyo, Paris; and the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing; La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy; and numerous other venues.

She has been writer in residence at the Whitechapel Gallery, London. She is the author of three books: Sad Sack (Book Works,London, 2019), Virgin with a Memory (Cornerhouse Publications, Manchester, 2014), and The Girl Who Fell to Earth (Harper Perennial, New York, 2012).