Alia Zaal Emirati, b. 1989

Biography

Alia Zaal is a multidisciplinary artist from the UAE who explores memory, history and the changing urban and natural environment of her surroundings. Exploring the connection between vision and perception, her work often tracks the interplay between digital and analogue.

Her paintings are based on personal photographs - of interiors, landscapes and scenes extracted from her visual diary. The transformation of images from one medium to another is seen as an allegory of the perceptions and lenses through which memories pass.

Alia Zaal (b.1989) holds a BA in Fine Arts (Univ. of Sharjah) and an MA in Art History and Museum Studies (Sorbonne University). Alia Zaal’s artwork has appeared in exhibitions across the world, from the UAE to Bangladesh, Germany, Spain, Venice, New York, Bethlehem and beyond. Her paintings have been acquired by the Embassy of the UAE in Washington DC and the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and form part of private collections such as that of the Barjeel Art Foundation. In 2010, she won 2nd Prize at the Bangladesh 14th Asian Art Biennal.

In 2022, Alia Zaal participated in the "Pathways" exhibition organized by Hunna Art in collaboration with Raffles The Palm Dubai. Currently, she is having her first solo exhibition, "I Saw Time Passing (I)" at Foundry Downtown (Dubai), which will be followed by a second solo show in Spring 2023 in Vétheuil (France).

Works