Foundations is Artsy’s seasonal online fair spotlighting fresh works from galleries known for spotting and nurturing rising talent. Here, Artsy Editorial selects 10 emerging artists that caught our attention at the fair, each bringing a fresh take on materiality, technique, or subject matter.
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B. 1986, London. Lives and works in London and Muscat, Oman.
Light, shadow, and water punctuate Eman Ali’s celestial images, acting as gateways to new realms. Exhibiting at Foundations with Hunna Art, a rising gallery that champions women artists from the Arabian Peninsula, Ali presents transcendent images that deconstruct sociopolitical ideals within Khaleeji culture in the region. Her works examine the intersection of gender, religion, and power in the Arab world, sparking a dialogue around historical narratives.
In her series “Banat Al Fi’9a” (“The Silver Girls”), for example, Ali reflects on 1960s Oman under the rule of Sultan Said bin Taimur. Employing AI technology and elements of Arabizi—a romanized script used for digital communication—Ali examines womanhood and liberation through alternate realities.
Water serves as a unifying motif in Space (2023) and Portal (2022), which feature hands and a floating figure under luminescent rippling currents. Each work captures the connection between humans and the natural world, unveiling a search for meaning and belonging.
Ali received a BA in graphic design from Central Saint Martins in 2008 and an MA in photography from the Royal College of Art in 2017. In 2020, her photograph Moza and the Pomegranates (2018) was a Single Image winner of the British Journal of Photography Female in Focus Awards.
—Adeola Gay
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