Sophia Al Maria
Sophia Al-Maria is an artist, writer, and filmmaker. She grew up between the United States and Qatar before moving to Egypt to study comparative literature at the American University in Cairo. She next completed a graduate degree in aural and visual cultures at Goldsmiths, London.
The seemingly disparate sources of inspiration for Al Maria’s multidisciplinary practice include pop culture, anime, Arabic poetry, sci-fi, and her personal experience of pollution and climate change. Working primarily with film and narrative text, the artist weaves captivating tales as a way to process her thoughts and feelings about the future, particularly in the current extinction climate. Her recent work focuses increasingly on the isolation of individuals via technology, consumerism as proxy religion, and how agency and chance play in the blinding approach of an uncertain future.
Growing up between the Pacific Northwest and the Gulf, Al Maria saw firsthand the effects of pollution and global warming. Her sci-fi and fantasy style depictions for the future do not focus on a utopia but rather, recognize the possibility of the end of life as we know it. Despite her fear of an apocalyptic future for mankind, Al Maria remains fascinated by ruins. Pre-Islamic poetry often begins with al-atlal(literally ‘the ruins’) in which the poet may describe a site abandoned by his great love; the ash of a burnt-out fire, the evidence of a tent in which she laid down her head. This method of elevating the detritus of existence had a profound effect on the artist, informing much of her work.
Along with friend and musician Fatima Al Qadiri, Al Maria coined the concept of Gulf Futurism. In Sad Sack, a recently published collection of writings, Al Maria explores the possibility that, in some respects, the Gulf is already living within the future imagined by those in the West. She investigates the various ways in which this future is not evenly distributed or that it is simply misunderstood, particularly with regards to feminism. Misunderstanding and bias are partly responsible for Al Maria’s mistrust in narratives and experiments with works told from the viewpoint of an omega character, giving a worm’s-eye perspective. In her richly imaginative works, Al Maria demonstrates the fascinating way in which storytelling is used to understand the past and to imagine the future.
Her work has been shown in various international exhibitions including but not limited to: Grey Unpleasant Land with Lydia Ourahmane, Spike Island, Bristol (2024); Not My Bag, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, USA (2023);Beast Type Song, GARAGE, Moscow (2021); taraxos, Serpentine x Modern Forms Sculpture Commission, London (2021); Bitch Omega, Julia Stoschek, Dusseldorf, Germany (2020); Beast Type Song, Tate Britain, London, UK (2019); Project Room #10, Sophia Al-Maria, Mirror Cookie, Fondazione Pomodoro, Milan, Italy (2019); Sophia Al-Maria: BCE, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2019); Sophia Al Maria: Black Friday, Mercer Union, Images Festival, Toronto, Canada (2018); Biennale of Moving Images, Miami, USA (2017); Axis Mundi, High Line Art, New York, USA (2017); No to the Invasion: Breakdowns and Side Effect, CCS Bard Gallery, NY, USA (2017); Mondialite, Villa Empain Boghossian Foundation, Brussels, Belgium (2017); The New Normal, Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art, Beijing China (2017); Seeds of Time, Shanghai Project, Shanghai, China (2017); Transmissions from the Etherspace, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain (2017); Paratoxic Paradoxes, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece (2017); Eternal Youth, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA (2017); Black Friday, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA (2016); Repetition, Villa Empain, Boghossian Foundation, Brussels, Belgium (2016); Imitation of Life at HOME, Manchester, UK (2016); In Search of Lost Time, The Brunei Gallery, London (2016); 89plus: Filter Bubble, LUMA Westbau, Zurich, Switzerland (2015); 2015 Triennial: Surround Audience, New Museum, New York, NY, USA (2015); Common Grounds, Villa Stuck, Munich, Germany (2015); Extinctions Marathon: Visions of the Future, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK (2014); Virgin with a memory, Cornerhouse, Manchester, UK (2014); Do It, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK (2013); The 9th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2012); For your Eyes Only, St. Paul Street Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (2012); Genre Specific Xperience, New Museum, New York, USA (2011); Bendari & the Bunduqia, Waqif Art Centre, Doha, Qatar (2007) and We Few: A Comic Palindrome, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, Egypt (2005).
Her writing has appeared in Harper's Magazine, Five Dials, Triple Canopy, and Bidoun. In 2007, she published her first autobiographical novel, The Girl Who Fell to Earth (Harper Collins Perennial). She was invited to participate in the 2016 Biennial of Moving Images in Geneva, Switzerland. The artist has also participated in the Inhabitation residency at Villa Empain, Boghossian Foundation, Brussels (2016).
Al Maria is the author of Sad Sack, Virgin With A Memory and The Girl Who Fell To Earth and has also guest edited an issue of the experimental art-writing journal The Happy Hypocrite, entitled Fresh Hell.
She was the Whitechapel gallery’s writer in residence 2018.
Al Maria currently lives and works in London, UK.
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Neither Here ~ Nor Elsewhere
Curated by Sanaz Askari 14 Dec 2024 - 24 Jan 2025The Third Line is pleased to announce Neither Here ~ Nor Elsewhere a group exhibition curated by Sanaz Askari. The exhibition brings together a diverse collective of artists from across...Read more -
Perpetual Inventory, Volume 1: An Exercise in Looking
Curated by Dr. Omar Kholeif 19 Dec 2022 - 29 Jan 2023Perpetual Inventory and Dr. O’s Pop Shop at The Third Line, Dubai this December. The Third Line presents Perpetual Inventory, Volume 1 and Dr. O’s Pop Shop: The Live Edition,...Read more -
The Third Line at Cromwell Place
Gallery 5, Cromwell Place, London 2 - 10 Jun 2021The Third Line is pleased to announce a group exhibition of works by Anuar Khalif__b/b__, Sara Naim and Sophia Al Maria at Cromwell Place in London. Featuring painting, sculptural photography...Read more -
THERE IS FICTION IN THE SPACE BETWEEN
23 Mar - 30 Jul 2020The Third Line is pleased to present There Is Fiction In The Space Between , a group exhibition celebrating the gallery’s fifteenth anniversary. This exhibition draws on the breadth of...Read more -
I WILL SEE IT, WHEN I BELIEVE IT
15 May - 27 Jul 2019The Third Line is pleased to present its summer exhibition I Will See It, When I Believe It, with works by Abbas Akhavan, Farhad Moshiri, Hayv Kahraman, Laleh Khorramian, Rana...Read more -
EVERYTHING MUST GO
Sophia Al Maria 22 Feb - 1 Apr 2017The Third Line is proud to present the first solo-exhibition by Sophia Al Maria in the UAE. The exhibition EVERYTHING MUST GO is an iteration of Black Friday— Sophia’s solo...Read more
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A Fusion Of Contrasting Realms Defines Artist A Fusion Of Contrasting Realms Defines Artist Sophia Al-Maria’s Work For Miu Miu Sophia Al-Maria’s Work For Miu Miu
Caterina Minthe, Vogue Arabia , December 29, 2023 -
Meet The Qatari Artist Who Brought Miu Miu’s Ss24 Show To Life
Ruth Yizengaw, Grazia Magazine, October 10, 2023 -
Artist Sophia Al-Maria on her fairytale video installation for Miu Miu’s Paris show
Jack Moss, Wallpaper, October 5, 2023 -
Your guide to Sophia Al-Maria’s INVISIBLE LABORS daydream therapy
Time Out Doha, September 19, 2022 -
“People Think the Audience is Stupid”: Sophia Al-Maria on Little Birds, Anaïs Nin and Screenplay Development
Brendan Byrne, Filmmaker Magazine, July 13, 2021 -
Timelines and topographies step up at The Third Line show
Muhammad Yusuf, Gulf Today, December 29, 2020
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Artist Fundraiser | Médecins Sans Frontières
ARTIST NEWS November 14, 2024Leading voices from across the field of contemporary art join forces to raise funds for essential humanitarian aid for Palestine through an exhibition and major...Read more -
Sophia Al-Maria with Lydia Ourahmane | Grey Unpleasant Land | Spike Island
EXHIBITIONS September 27, 2024Sophia Al-Maria with Lydia Ourahmane Grey Unpleasant Land at Spike Island now open. 28 September 2024 - 19 January 2025 Spike Island, Bristol, UK Grey...Read more -
Sophia Al-Maria | Seeing in the Dark | Busan Biennale | Busan Modern and Contemporary History Museum
EXHIBITIONS August 22, 2024Sophia Al-Maria participates in Busan Biennale Seeing in the Dark at Busan Modern and Contemporary History Museum. 17 August - 20 October 2024 Busan Museum...Read more -
Sophia Al-Maria | Youssef Nabil | Roma Amor: The Fall of Empires | Biennale of Bonifacio
EXHIBITIONS August 20, 2024Sophia Al-Maria and Youssef Nabil on view at the second edition of the Biennale of Bonifacio titled Roma Amor: The Fall of Empires. 10th May...Read more -
Sophia Al Maria | ARABOFUTURS: Art, science fiction and new imagination | Institut du Monde Arabe
EXHIBITIONS August 6, 2024Sophia Al Maria’s film Black Friday on view at Institut du Monde Arabe, part of the group exhibition ARABOFUTURS: Art, science fiction and new imaginations....Read more