Sama Alshaibi:
Four Series
Zane Bennett Contemporary Art | February 2022
When Sama Alshaibi was named a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow in Photography, the storied institution commended the Arizona artist for “complicating the coding of the Arab female figure found in the image history of photographs and moving images.”
In this solo display, four series spanning a decade of Alshaibi’s practice (Carry Over, Silsila, Between Two Rivers and Negative’s Capable Hands) exemplify her complex and varied approach to this undertaking. The artist often steps into her own frame, crafting self-portraits that draw tense lines between cultural symbolism and personal identity.
This exhibition will celebrate the arc of Alshaibi’s artistic practice, as she reaches an inflection point in her career," writes show curator Isabella Beroutsos "This year, her work is featured in State of the Art: LOCATE at MOCA Jacksonville. Zane Bennett’s exhibition will be the first to take a broader look at the artist’s oeuvre, presenting the themes threading through her artwork over time.”
Press
“Each of Alshaibi’s series highlights how individual agency, particularly that of Middle Eastern and North African women, is subject to geopolitical and economic forces that destroy the environment. The cause of displacement is varied — war, climate change and capitalism, colonialism — yet they each create inhospitable environments that undermine the liberties each regime paradoxically claims to champion.”
-Coco Picard, Hyperallergic
My contributions: Curatorial oversight of Isabella Beroutsos with Marissa Fassano
Artwork: Sama Alshaibi
Photography: Byron Flesher
Marketing Writing: Isabella Beroutsos