Triangle-Astérides – Emii Alrai

Emii Alrai was born in 1993 in Blackpool (GB), she lives and works in Leeds (GB).

Emii Alrai’s artistic practice is shaped by inherited nostalgia, geographical identity, and postcolonial museum practices of collecting and displaying objects. Drawing from ancient Middle Eastern mythologies and her family’s oral histories from Iraq, she weaves narratives by forging artifacts and visualizing the remnants of cultural collision.

Emii Alrai is a member of the Yorkshire Sculpture International Network and was selected in 2019 for the Arab British Centre Making Marks Project in Kuwait. Her recent exhibitions include The Tetley, Leeds (2020); VITRINE, London (2019); Two Queens, Leicester (2019); and GLOAM, Sheffield (2018).

2_emii_alrai_the_high_dam_the_tetley_leeds_2020_jules_lister — Emii Alrai, The High Dam, 2020, The Tetley, Leeds © Jules Lister

emii_alrai_an_ancient_quiver_gloam_gallery_sheffield_2018_james_clarkson — Emii Alrai, An Ancient Quiver, 2018, GLOAM Gallery, Sheffield © James Clarkson

emii_alrai_house_of_teeming_cattle_two_queens_leicester_2019_jules_lister — Emii Alrai, House of Teeming Cattle, 2019, Two Queens, Leicester © Jules Lister

emii_alrai_the_high_dam_the_tetley_leeds_2020_jules_lister — Emii Alrai, The High Dam, 2020, The Tetley, Leeds © Jules Lister

Emii Alrai receives support from Fluxus Art Projects in the development of her project Capture, which can be discovered by clicking here.

To read the conversation between Emii Alrai and curator Flora Fettah, click here.