Artist Spotlight: Alia Ali

Alia Ali is a Yemeni-Bosnian-American artist who expresses herself through both photography and digital storytelling. Informed by her travels through Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, Ali’s photography captures the cultures and lifestyles she encounters. In “Process,” her exhibition at the Monroe C. Gutman Library Gallery that opened Feb. 14, she presents a collection of photos illustrating her perceptions of the human experience from her latest travels.

The Harvard Crimson: What was your goal with “Process”?

Alia Ali: What motivated me in the images that I chose for this exhibition is that all of us have the same needs…. Once we fulfill these needs, we get the same fulfillment. In this I believe that humans are the same. At the same moment, there is a process that is between that need and the fulfillment. That's what makes us exceptionally and beautifully different.... In all of this, it's the process.

THC: What inspired you to focus on the idea of “Process” in particular?

AA: The word "process" is a reminder that life is a process. These images are also literally processed. There has been work done on them and I hope that people will come and see them. I don't use any captioning here because I want people to engage and tell their story and they're welcome to write to me and ask me about my story…. It's a reflection of them and I am inviting them to reflect about what has been processed and the process.

THC: Many of your pictures contain hands and fingers—is that intentional or does it just happen to come up a lot?

AA: It's intentional…. As I was traveling around, I saw pink potatoes, which is also featured in this exhibition. It was a woman who was making these potatoes that are shocking pink. And I have never seen nor touched them in my life. There are many people who see this exhibition who will go throughout their entire lives without ever touching pink potatoes. This woman touches it every single day. It is a process of how she nourishes herself. That fascinates me…. When you're looking at the hand, in the hands themselves, how the hands touch, you can learn a lot about someone. It's also a way for me that you don't have to do a portrait of a person to do their portrait.

THC: What brings you to Harvard in particular?

AA: For me, [exhibiting at Harvard] completely fell in line with the work that I do because...it was something I dealt with as the director of operations for the Marrakech Biennale…. [O]ver there, there's art everywhere—inherent in the work, architecture, the way people dress, the music—yet there are certain things that are missing. For example, the occupation of an artist doesn't exist there…. I used to be a teacher.... It goes hand in hand with my art as an education: art is about engaging, making people think about things in a different way. That's why there are workshops as a part of the exhibition. There has to be the dialogue.

THC: Have you considered using film as a medium?

AA: I am actually trained as a documentary filmmaker…. My thesis was a documentary about the tribal system in Yemen. It was a way of me trying to make people understand the beauty of Yemen…. The minute I showed it for the final night, I realized I made a big mistake. I had narrated it. I had almost fed what I was trying to get out of the people…. I found myself moving towards photography…. You look at an image and it has so much power. People can look and listen and feel united. It's timeless. I'd like to explore that with my images as a dialogue.

THC:  What do you hope audiences take away from “Process?”

AA: Everything that I do is very much about self-reflection, and I hope that people have time to do self-reflection…. As I said, there is a mirror in this, and it's a reminder for people to reflect, to see themselves as a part of this exhibition essentially…. It's wonderful that people see an image, and even if they are disturbed by an image, they've reacted to it.