Sama Raena Alshaibi also known as Sama Alshaibi ( ar, سما الشيبي born 1973 in

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

) is a conceptual artist (video art, performative photography, sculpture and installation), who deals with spaces of conflict as her primary subject. War, exile, power and the quest for survival are themes seen in her works. She often uses her own body in her artwork as a representation of the country or an issue she is dealing with. Sama Alshaibi was named a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow in Photography. She has exhibited extensively throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa since 2003. She has held solo exhibitions in New York, London, Dubai, Guatemala City, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Arizona. Her project ''Silsila'' was exhibited at the 55th

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

(2013), as part of the Maldives Pavilion. in 2019, she was selected as an artist in residence at Artpace San Antonio that culminated with a solo exhibition titled “Until Total Liberation”. She also represented the United States at the 13th International Cairo Biennale in 2019. Her video work ''Wasl'' (Arabic for "Union" – 2017) was included in the inaugural 2017 Honolulu Biennial. She has been selected as one of 60 artists for the State of the Art 2020 (Crystal Bridges, Arkansas) curated by Lauren Haynes.

Life and career

Alshaibi was born in Basra in 1973 to an Iraqi father and a

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

mother. She moved to the United States with her family in 1986.Rellstab, F.H. and Schlote, C., ''Representations of War, Migration, and Refugeehood: Interdisciplinary Perspectives,'' Routledge, 19 Sep. 2014, p. 77 Alshaibi's mother, Maha Yaqoubi was born in Jaffa in 1946. The Yaqoubi family were relocated to

around 1949, as a result of the

1948 Palestinian exodus In 1948 Estimates of the Palestinian Refugee flight of 1948, more than 700,000 Palestinians, Palestinian Arabs – about half of prewar Mandatory Palestine, Palestine's Arab population – Causes of the 1948 Palestinian exodus, were expelled ...

. The family settled in Baghdad and where the artist's mother married Alshaibi's Iraqi father, Hameed, in 1968. Sama Alshaibi and her siblings, including

Usama Alshaibi Usama Alshaibi ( ar, أسامة الشيبي) (born in Baghdad, Iraq on November 20, 1969) is an Iraqi American, Iraqi-American independent film, independent filmmaker and visual artist.Kozarski, Ed:, From Iraq to Iowa', Chicago Reader, published ...

, and parents fled Basra, Iraq in 1981, during the Iraq-Iran War. They lived in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Jordan before moving the United States in 1986. Her story of leaving Iraq is told in her films ''Goodbye to the Weapon'' and ''Where The Birds Fly.'' She was raised in the Middle East and United States of America and attended high school at Iowa City High School, in Iowa City, Iowa. Alshaibi was taught photography by her father when she was 12 years old. She received her formal art education by initially studying photography at

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890, it has 5,928https://about.colum.edu/effectiveness/pdf/spring-2021-student-profile.pdf students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergra ...

with a major in photojournalism, obtaining a BA in Photography; and later obtained a Master of Fine Arts (Photography, Video and New Media) at

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sys ...

in 2005. Her first ambition was to become a war photographer. In an interview, Sand Rushes in, Alshaibi credits her mentor John H. White (an African American, and Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist for the

Chicago Sun Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

) for recognizing that she was a conceptual artist, even though her concerns were political in nature. She remained in the photojournalism track, but her early work showed the beginnings of what she eventually would become known for in her future practice, including her body staged as various characters. In graduate school, Alshaibi was primarily mentored by noted Jamaican artist

Albert Chong Albert Chong (born 1958) is an artist of African and Chinese descent. Chong works across medias and has produced series of photographs as well as installations and sculptures. He states that the purpose of much of his art is to "represent and reani ...

. In interviews, Alshaibi states that living in a war and later as a refugee are the driving influences of her artwork, but she also notes the particular impact that black photographers working with issues of identity and representation have had on her. Besides her two mentors, Chong and White, Alshaibi was also inspired by artists

Carrie Mae Weems Carrie Mae Weems (born April 20, 1953) is an American artist working in text, fabric, audio, digital images and installation video, and is best known for her photography. She achieved prominence through her early 1990s photographic project ''Th ...

and

Lorna Simpson Lorna Simpson (born August 13, 1960) is an American photographer and multimedia artist. She came to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s with artworks such as ''Guarded Conditions'' and ''Square Deal''. Simpson is most well-known for her work in c ...

when she was introduced to their work while at Columbia College. In the first semester of graduate school, Alshaibi's university museum held an exhibition titled ''"Shatat: Arab

Diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

Women Artists''"; Alshaibi credits this exhibition for giving her the vocabulary to contextualize her work as well as introducing her to the artists and curators, especially Dr. Salah Hassan, having a major impact on her future studies. Alshaibi finished her first year of graduate school with her first solo exhibition at La Fabrica in Guatemala City, after meeting artist Luis Gonzalez Palma at her school. He was a Visiting Artist and Alshaibi had a critique with him. He asked her for a CD of her images to take to his gallery in Guatemala. One month later, La Fabrica contacted her and she continued showing with them for several years. Alshaibi is a Full Professor of Photography at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

. and holds the title of ‘1885 Society Distinguished Scholar’. She served as an elected member of the National Board of Directors for Society For Photographic Education (2009–2013). She was the co-founder of the feminist collective 6+ before leaving in 2009. Alshaibi represented the United States of America as the U.S. Department of State Arts Envoy to the UAE from May 21–30, 2012.

Monograph

''Sama Alshaibi: Sand Rushes In'', the first monograph of Sama Alshaibi, published by

Aperture Foundation Aperture Foundation is a nonprofit arts institution, founded in 1952 by Ansel Adams, Minor White, Barbara Morgan, Dorothea Lange, Nancy Newhall, Beaumont Newhall, Ernest Louie, Melton Ferris, and Dody Warren. Their vision was to create a forum fo ...

. It presents work from ''Silsila'', a video and photographic project that Alshaibi worked on over five years in the deserts and threatened water sources of North Africa and West Asia. Part of that project premiered at the 2013 Venice Biennale. The book also presents other series including ''Thowra, Negatives Capable Hands'' and ''The Pessimists'' in the context of ''Silsila'' which means 'chain' or 'link' in Arabic. Alshaibi's book was published as part of the Aperture's First Book program, and she is the first artist from the Middle East to have a monograph published by

Aperture In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. An opt ...

Awards

* 2021 "Guggenheim Fellowship", The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. * 2019 ''The Center Awards: Project Development Grant Winner'', The Center at Santa Fe * ''2018 Artist Research and Development Grant'' – Arizona Commission on the Arts * ''2017 Visual Arts AFAC Grant - Arab Fund for Arts and Culture'': for the project proposal "Carry Over" (photography, sculpture) * 2014–2015 ''Fulbright Scholars Fellowship to the West Bank/Palestine'': Alshaibi was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholars Fellowship and relocated to Ramallah with her family for one year. Her proposal was titled: Arts, Culture and Community Building: Developing Educational Programming for the Palestinian Museum. * 2013 ''University of Arizona's 1885 Society Distinguished Scholars Award'': Alshaibi was one of four recipients of the UA's 1885 Society Distinguished Scholars Award and title, supported through the UA Foundation's 1885 Society and sponsored by the UA Office of the President. The award recognizes outstanding mid-career faculty who are leading experts in their fields and highly valued contributors to the UA's teaching, research and outreach missions. The Regents' and Distinguished Professors who reviewed the nominations noted that

he is He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

"clearly one of the most important voices today in producing art pertaining to issues of the Middle East, women, the body, Islam and exile." * 2010 ''Faculty Research Development Grant'', University of Arizona * 2008 ''Crystal Apple Faculty Recipient'', Society for Photography Education – juried national teaching award * 2008 ''Excellence in Photographic Teaching'', The Center (at Santa Fe) – Honorable Mention – juried national teaching award * 2007 ''Feminist Review Trust'', London, United Kingdom

Art projects

*Adjudicating the Jezebel, 2020, mixed media *The Cessation, 2019, installation *Carry Over, 2019, photography *Silsila, 2009–2017, video art, photography and installation *The Tethered, 2012, video art *Flight, 2012, video art *vs Him, 2011 (solo exhibition in Dubai ''vs. Him'' multi media including *vs. The Empire from vs. Him, 2011, projection on canvas with sound *vs. The Ruler from vs. Him, 2011, wood throne sculptures and sound *vs. The Father from vs. Him, 2011, video art *vs. The Brother from vs. Him, 2011, video art *vs. The Son from vs. Him, 2011, video art *Thowra (Revolution), 2011 video art *Warhead, photography, 2010 *Negative's Capable Hands, photography 2010 *Absence/Presence from Baghdadi Mem/Wars, Video Art in collaboration with Dena Al-Adeeb, 2010 *Efface/Remain from Baghdadi Mem/Wars, 2010 Video Art in collaboration with Dena Al-Adeeb *Still/Chaos from Baghdadi Mem/Wars, 2010, Video Art in collaboration with Dena Al-Adeeb *End of September, 2010, 16 minutes, dramatic narrative short, co-written and directed with Ala' Younis. *Chicken, 2009,experimental video art *Sissy, 2010, experimental video art *Sweep, 2009 experimental video art *The Rivers, 2009, 58 minutes, documentary about Iraqi Refugees in Jordan * ''The Bride Wears Orange'' (2009-video) * ''Between Two Rivers'' (2008-photography) * ''And Other Interruptions'' (2007–2008, photography) * ''All I Want For Christmas'' (2007-video) * ''In This Garden'' (Photography 2006) * ''Birthright'' (2005-photography) * ''Where the Birds Fly'' (2008-video) * ''Zaman: I Remember'' (2002–2004)

References

External links