Resume
Sama Alshaibi
b. 1973, Basra, Iraq
Regents Professor
Chair: Photography, Video & Imaging | School of Art | University of Arizona
Director: Racial Justice Studio & Arts On My Mind podcast | Arizona Arts
Education
2005
MFA, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
Thesis: “Memory Work in the Palestinian Diaspora”
Thesis Chair: Albert Chong
1999
BA, Columbia College Chicago, Illinois
Monograph
2023
Sama Alshaibi: Tell it the River
Texts by Huma Gupta and Sama Alshaibi. Foreword by Nina Heydemann. Curatorial essay/interview by Mo Reda and Cima Azzam. Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah, UAE.
2015
Sama Alshaibi: Sand Rushes In
Foreword by Salwa Mikdadi. Text by Alfredo Cramerotti. Edited by Isabella Ellaheh Hughes. Aperture Foundation, New York.
Selected Fellowships, Grants & Awards
2025
MacDowell Fellowship, MacDowell, Peterborough, New Hampshire
2024
Resident Fellow, The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, Bellagio, Italy
2024
Mellon-Fronteridades Fellowship, Confluencenter, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
2023
Artist2Artist Betty Parsons Fellow, Art Matters, New York
2022
Regents Professor, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
2021
Guggenheim Fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, New York
2021
Arlene and Morton Scult Artist Award, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
2019
First Prize, Project Development Grant, CENTER, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2017
AFAC Visual Arts Grant, Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, Beirut, Lebanon
2014–15
Fulbright Scholar Fellowship, Ramallah, West Bank, Palestine
2014
Public Art Commission, City of Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture, Phoenix, Arizona
2014
Arab American Book Award, Evelyn Shakir Non-Fiction Award, Arab American National Museum, Dearborn, Michigan
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2025
‘طرس’ (Tterss), Ayyam Gallery, Dubai, UAE
2025
TTERSS, Solo Booth, Paris Photo, Ayyam Gallery, Main Sector, Paris, France
2023
Tell It to the River, Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah, UAE. Curated by Mo Reda and Cima Azzam. Catalog.
2023
Sama Alshaibi: Silsila, Hattan Gallery, Colorado State University, in collaboration with the Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, Colorado. Catalog.
2022
Sama Alshaibi: Generation After Generation, Arlene and Morton Scult Artist Award Exhibition, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
2022
Sama Alshaibi: Four Series, Zane Bennett Contemporary, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2019
Until Total Liberation, Artpace, San Antonio, Texas. Curated by Deborah Willis.
2019
Staging the Imagined, Ayyam Gallery, Dubai, UAE. Catalogue.
2017
Sama Alshaibi: Silsila, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
2016
Sama Alshaibi: Silsila, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, Arizona. Curated by Claire C. Carter. Catalog.
2015
Collapse, Ayyam Gallery, Dubai, UAE. Curated by Maymanah Farhat.
2015
Sand Rushes In, Ayyam Gallery, London, UK. Curated by Isabella Ellaheh Hughes.
2011
End of September, Selma Feriani Gallery, London, UK
2011
vs. Him, Lawrie Shabibi Gallery, Dubai, UAE
2010
Zero Sum Game, Selma Feriani Gallery, London, UK
2010
Between Two Rivers, Al-Hoash Gallery, East Jerusalem
2009
Between Two Rivers, Al-Kahf Gallery, Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine
2009
SUMOUD, Hoffmaster Gallery at Lawrence University, Appleton, WI
2006
My Apartheid Vacation, Zero Station, Portland, ME
2005
Women, War, and Peace: Feminist Interventions in a Time of Conflict,
St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN
2004
Where Do the Birds Fly After the Last Sky? El Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española, Antigua, Guatemala
2004
Where Do the Birds Fly After the Last Sky? La Fabrica Arte Contemporaneo, Guatemala City, Guatemala
2003
Zaman I Remember, La Fabrica Arte Contemporaneo, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026
Athens Photo Festival 2026, Main Program, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece. Catalog.
Global Visions: FotoFest at 40, FotoFest Biennial, Houston, Texas
Arizona Biennial 2026, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona. Juror: Julie Rodrigues Widholm.
Déjà Vu, Concrete, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, UAE
The Lost Paintings, Bristol Art Museum & Gallery, Bristol, UK; P21 Gallery, London, UK; MAC, Belfast, Ireland
2025
Maknana: An Archaeology of New Media Art in the Arab World, Diriyah Art Futures, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Curated by Ala Younis and Haytham Nawar. Catalog.
Uncanny, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
Sila: All That Is Left to You, Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah, UAE
Géologie des âmes / Geology of Souls, Fondation Thalie / Nathalie Guiot Collection, Arles, France
The End of Nature, Gerald Peters Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM
2024
Reclaiming Visions, Bassam Freiha Art Foundation, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Curated by Michaela Watrelot. Catalog.
Family, Community, Belonging: Works from the Collection, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey
Nepantla: The Land Is the Beloved, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Washington. Curated by Maymanah Farhat.
2023
Being and Belonging, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada. Curated by Fahmida Suleman and Silvia Forni. Catalog.
Iraq: Beyond the Two Rivers, Keller Gallery, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Curated by Huma Gupta.
Something Else, Third Edition of the Off Biennale Cairo, Cairo, Egypt. Curated by Simon Njami.
Resonating Tides, Women’s Pavilion, COP28, Expo City Dubai, UAE. Curated by Janet Bellotto.
Crafting Resistance, Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona. Curated by Erin Joyce.
We Love Life Whenever We Can, Washington & Lee University, Lexington, VA
2022
LOCATE: State of the Art 2020, Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire
LOCATE: State of the Art 2020, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas
LOCATE: State of the Art 2020, Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Florida
This Land Is Your Music, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
What Photography Is, Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, Hollins University, Roanoke, Virginia. Catalog.
2021
Converging Lines: Tracing the Artistic Lineage of the Arab Diaspora in the U.S., Middle East Institute, Washington, D.C. Curated by Maymanah Farhat.
Women in the Face of History, Tisch Art Galleries, New York University and Photoville, New York. Curated by Deborah Willis.
EL devenir / The Becoming, The Front Arte & Cultura Gallery, San Diego, CA
2020
State of the Art 2020, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art / The Momentary, Bentonville, Arkansas. Curated by Lauren Haynes, Allison Glenn, and Alejo Benedetti.
100 Years, 100 Women, Park Avenue Armory, New York. Commission. Co-organized by Deborah Willis and NYU Tisch.
Migration(s) and Meaning in Art, Meyerhoff Gallery, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland. Curated by Deborah Willis. Catalog.
The Fourth Wall, 21st Biennale of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. Curated by Mo Reda.
Reframed, Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Tampa, FL
2019
13th Cairo International Biennale, Cairo, Egypt. Catalog.
Women’s Work: Art & Activism in the 21st Century, Pen + Brush, New York. Curated by Grace Aneiza Ali. Catalog.
Person, Perception, Persona, Northlight Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2018
30 Years: An Open Eye to the Arab World, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France
Tribe: Contemporary Photography from the Arab World, American University Museum, Washington, D.C. Curated by Janet Bellotto and Woodman Taylor.
BredaPhoto International Festival, Breda, Netherlands
Arizona Biennial 2018, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona. Juror: Rebecca R. Hart.
2017
No to the Invasion: Breakdowns and Side Effects, CCS Bard Hessel Museum, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Curated by Fawz Kabra. Catalog.
Suspended Territories: Artists from the Middle East and North Africa, Marta Herford Museum, Herford, Germany. Catalog.
Middle of Now | Here, Honolulu Biennial, Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Curatorial Director: Fumio Nanjo; Curator: Ngahiraka Mason.
Beautiful Stranger, Museum De Wieger, Deurne, Netherlands, (Curator: Diana Wiegersma), Catalog.
2016
The People of the Sea / The Sea Is Mine, Qalandiya International, Haifa. Curated by Mohamed Badarne.
Krisis, Bonington Gallery at Trent University, Nottingham, UK
2015
View from Inside: Contemporary Arab Photography, Video and Multimedia Art, Abu Dhabi Festival, Emirates Palace Gallery, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Curated by Wendy Watriss and Karin Adrian von Roques. Catalog.
Arab Territories, Constantine Capital of Arab Culture, Palace of Culture, Algiers, Algeria. Curated by Nadira Laggoune-Aklouche. Catalog.
10, Arab American National Museum, Dearborn, MI (Curator: Maymanah Farhat)
2014
FotoFest International Biennial, Houston, Texas. Curated by Wendy Watriss and Karin Adrian von Roques. Catalog.
International Symposium on Electronic Art, Dubai, UAE
Portable Nation, Fondazione Fish / Visual Arts Center Museum of Contemporary Art, Pesaro, Italy. Curated by Camilla Boemio.
Chain of Fire: Prologue Exhibition of the Honolulu Biennial, Hawai’i
Architecture of Memory | two-person exhibition with Dena Al-Adeeb, Mana Contemporary, New Jersey City, NJ
2013
The 55th Venice Biennale, Maldives Pavilion, Venice, Italy. Curated by Aida Eltorie and Alfredo Cramerotti. Catalog.
The Map Is Not the Territory, Jerusalem Fund Gallery, Washington, D.C.
2012
Mapping Subjectivity: Experimentation in Arab Cinema from the 1960s until Now, Museum of Modern Art, New York. Curated by Rasha Salti and Jytte Jensen.
Alienation, Barjeel Foundation, Sharjah, UAE. Curated by Mandy Merzaban. Catalog.
Corps Dévoilés, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France. Catalog.
The Changing Room, London 2012 Festival / Cultural Olympiad, London, UK. Catalog.
Presenting Absence: Moving Images of Palestine, Bonnington Gallery, Nottingham, UK. Curated Dr. Anna Ball.
Primal Seen Revealed, CU Art Museum, Boulder, CO
#COMETOGETHER: Edge of Arabia, Old Truman Brewery, London, UK.
2011
Breaking Ranks: Human/Nature, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
The Changing Room: Arab Reflections on Praxis and Times, Metro Quadro Gallery, Turino, Italy
2010
Bringing the War Home, Impressions Gallery, Bradford, UK. Curated by Pippa Oldfield. Catalog.
The State, Traffic Gallery, Dubai, UAE. Curated by Rami Farook, Catalog.
2009
Incheon Women Artists’ Biennale, Incheon, South Korea. Catalog.
Mapping Palestine, Art Dubai Projects, Dubai, UAE. Curated by Samar Martha. Catalog.
2007
Sultana’s Dream, Exit Art, New York. Catalog.
Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China. Catalog.
2006–2009
Our People, Our Land, Our Images, touring exhibition. Curated by Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie and Veronica Passalacqua. Catalog.
Selected Residencies
2026
Residency.ch at PROGR, Bern, Switzerland
2025
MacDowell, Peterborough, New Hampshire
2024
The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, Bellagio, Italy
2024
SHPRS / ASU Art Museum Distinguished Artist-in-Residence, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
2022
Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, Colorado
2019
Artpace International Artist Residency, San Antonio, Texas
2015
Palace of Culture, Algiers, Algeria
2011
A.M. Qattan Foundation, Ramallah, West Bank, Palestine
2010
Light Work, Syracuse, New York
2008
Darat Al Funun, Amman, Jordan
2007
Darat Al Funun, Amman, Jordan
Selected Public Collections
Arab American National Museum
ASU Art Museum
Barjeel Art Foundation
Center for Creative Photography
CU Art Museum
Dalloul Art Foundation
Darat Al Funun / The Khalid Shoman Foundation
En Foco Collection
Gorman Museum
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University
Light Work Collection
Maraya Art Centre
Montclair Art Museum
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Museum of Tunisia
Museums at Washington and Lee University
Nadour Collection
Salsali Private Museum
The Prints Collection Archive, University of Mississippi
University of Illinois Chicago
Selected Presentations, Panels, and Curatorial Projects
2026
Artist Talk, Photo Basel, in conversation with curator Elwira Spychalska, Basel, Switzerland
Visiting Artist Talk, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, Oregon
2025
Conversation with David Alekhuogie, moderated by Morad Montazami, Paris Photo, Grand Palais, Paris, France
Artist Talk, Palimpsest as Image, MacDowell Downtown, Peterborough, New Hampshire
Visiting Artist Talk, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania
2024
The Circle Was a Point: Photography from the Barjeel Art Foundation, The Foundry, Dubai, UAE. Co-curated with Amir Hazim.
Panelist, School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona
2023
Keynote Speaker, Decolonial Feminist Ecologies: Exploring Gendered Landscapes of Body, Migration, and Climate, University of Glasgow / University of Edinburgh / University of Strathclyde, UK
Keynote Speaker, An Index of Return, Society for Photographic Education National Conference, Denver, Colorado
Conversation with Huma Gupta and Sadik Kwaish Alfraji, From the Great Flood to the Great Migration, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Conversation, Beyond the Western Gaze: Reclaiming Identities in the Art of Sama Alshaibi, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada
Panelist, Dialogues in Contemporary Art, Fenaa Alawwal, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Visiting Artist Talk, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
2022
Artist Talk, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
Panelist, Water: Elements of the Anthropocene Symposium, New York University Abu Dhabi, UAE
Visiting Artist Talks, University of Nebraska; Anderson Ranch Arts Center; University of Houston; MOCA Jacksonville
2021
Panelist, Women and Migrations: Meanings in Art and Practice, College Art Association National Conference
Panelist, Cultural Hybridity and the Art of Diaspora, Middle East Institute, Washington, D.C.
Conversation, Double Exposure: Sama Alshaibi and Hazem Harb, Afikra podcast, Beirut, Lebanon
2020
Panelist, Photography, History and Systems of Power, Photoville, New York
Artist Talk, Women & Migrations: Responses in Art, History and Policy Symposium, NYU Washington, D.C.
2019
Featured Speaker, Review Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2018
Panelist, Arts of Intervention, Center for the Study of Social Difference, Columbia University, New York
2017
Artist Talk, Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Artist Talk, Decolonizing Vision Speaker Series, NYU Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality and A/P/A Institute, New York
2016
Artist Talk, Aperture Foundation, New York
Artist Talk, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, Arizona
2014
Artist Talk, Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, Arizona
Panelist, Gender in the Photographic Arts: Middle East, North Africa, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
2013
Panelist, How Can Iraq Speak Its History, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
2012
Panelist, New Perspectives from the Edge of Arabia, Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami, Florida
Panelist, Artist as Nomad, March Meeting, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
Representation
Ayyam Gallery, Dubai
Gallery Esther Woerdehoff, Paris