Sama Alshaibi Explained

Sama Raena Alshaibi
Native Name:سما الشيبي
Native Name Lang:ar
Birth Place:Basra, Iraq
Nationality:Iraqi-Palestinian American
Education:Columbia College, Chicago (photojournalism); University of Colorado, Boulder (photography, video and media arts)
Known For:Photography, video art and installation art
Website:samaalshaibil.com

Sama Raena Alshaibi also known as Sama Alshaibi (Arabic: سما الشيبي born 1973 in Basra, 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.[1] 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 (2013), as part of the Maldives Pavilion.[2] In 2019, she was selected as an artist in residence at Artpace San Antonio that culminated with a solo exhibition titled “Until Total Liberation.”[3] She also represented the United States at the 13th International Cairo Biennale in 2019.[4] Her video work Wasl (Arabic for "Union" – 2017) was included in the inaugural 2017 Honolulu Biennial.[5] She has been selected as one of 60 artists for the State of the Art 2020 (Crystal Bridges, Arkansas) curated by Lauren Haynes.[6]

Life and career

Alshaibi was born in Basra in 1973 to an Iraqi father and a Palestinian mother. She moved to the United States with her family in 1986.[7]

Alshaibi's mother, Maha Yaqoubi was born in Jaffa in 1946. The Yaqoubi family were relocated to Iraq around 1949, as a result of the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight.[8] 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, 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[7] 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 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 in 2005.[9]

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) 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.[10]

In graduate school, Alshaibi was primarily mentored by noted Jamaican artist Albert Chong. 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 and Lorna Simpson 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 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.[11] and holds the title of ‘1885 Society Distinguished Scholar’.[12] She served as an elected member of the National Board of Directors for Society For Photographic Education (2009–2013).[13] She was the co-founder of the feminist collective 6+ before leaving in 2009.[14] Alshaibi represented the United States of America as the U.S. Department of State Arts Envoy to the UAE from May 21–30, 2012.[15]

Monograph

Sama Alshaibi: Sand Rushes In, the first monograph of Sama Alshaibi, published by Aperture Foundation. 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."[16]

Awards

Art projects

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Sama Alshaibi . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230605070742/https://www.gf.org/fellows/sama-alshaibi/ . 5 June 2023 . 20 October 2023 . John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
  2. Web site: Venues – Artists . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130423031820/http://maldivespavilion.com/blog/pavilion/ . 23 April 2013 . 6 May 2013 . Maldives Pavilion – 55th Venice Biennale.
  3. Web site: Sama Alshaibi . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20210804083556/https://www.artpace.org/artists_and_curators/sama-alshaibi . 4 August 2021 . 5 December 2019 . Artpace.
  4. Web site: 2019 . Sama Alshaibi – USA . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230828053234/http://cairobiennale.gov.eg/index.php/sama-alshaibi-usa/ . 28 August 2023 . 5 December 2019 . Cairo Biennale . en-US.
  5. Web site: 2017 . Sama Alshaibi in the 2017 Honolulu Biennial . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231020013811/https://www.ayyamgallery.com/news/184-sama-alshaibi-in-the-2017-honolulu-biennial-middle-of-now-here/ . 20 October 2023 . 29 April 2017 . Ayyam Gallery.
  6. Web site: 11 November 2019 . The Momentary and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Unveil the 59 Artists to be Featured in State of the Art 2020 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20191205075224/https://crystalbridges.org/blog/the-momentary-and-crystal-bridges-museum-of-american-art-unveil-the-60-artists-to-be-featured-in-state-of-the-art-2020/ . 5 December 2019 . 5 December 2019 . Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art . en-CA.
  7. Book: Lohoff, Markus . Representations of War, Migration, and Refugeehood: Interdisciplinary Perspectives . . 2015 . 9780415711760 . Rellstab . Daniel H. . New York . 77 . en . Beyond Mass Media: Representations of War Between Art and Journalism . 869771591 . Schlote . Christiane . https://archive.org/details/representationso0000unse_r3e9/page/76/mode/2up?q=sama+alshaibi . registration.
  8. Book: Alshaibi, Sama . We Are Iraqis: Aesthetics and Politics in a Time of War . . 2013 . 9780815651994 . Syracuse, New York . 171-181 . en . A Tale of Two Exiles . j.ctt1j1vzvd . 830004839.
  9. Web site: Proctor . Rebecca Anne . 2011 . One to Watch: Sama Alshaibi: The Physicality of Exile . usurped . https://web.archive.org/web/20111011122523/http://www.canvasguide.net/en/articles/sama-alshaibi-the-physicality-of-exile.html . 11 October 2011 . Canvas Guide.
  10. Book: Alshaibi, Sama . Sama Alshaibi: Sand Rushes In . Aperture . 2015 . 978-1-59711-308-3 . Hughes . Isabella Ellaheh . New York . 101–103 . en . 899704623.
  11. Web site: Sama Raena Alshaibi . live. http://web.archive.org/web/20240227004019/https://cfa.arizona.edu/profile/alshaibi/ . 27 February 2024 . 12 June 2024 . College of Fine Arts . . en-US.
  12. Web site: 13 May 2013 . Four Faculty Members Named 1885 Society Distinguished Scholars . dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20230827170116/https://uaatwork.arizona.edu/lqp/four-faculty-members-named-1885-society-distinguished-scholars . 27 August 2023 . 5 December 2019 . UA@Work . University of Arizona.
  13. Web site: 2013 . About Us - Board Members: Sama Alshaibi, Board Member . deviated . https://web.archive.org/web/20130124155943/https://www.spenational.org/about/board-members#member-17 . 24 January 2013 . Society For Photographic Education.
  14. Web site: the six / sama alshaibi . live . https://archive.today/20231020201228/https://6plus.org/alshaibi . 20 October 2023 . 20 October 2023 . 6+: A women's art collective.
  15. Web site: Sama Alshaibi Arts Envoy Programs . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170331115023/http://dubai.usconsulate.gov/sama512.html . 31 March 2017 . Consulate General of the United States, Dubai.
  16. Web site: Risch . Conor . 2 April 2015 . Iraqi-Palestinian Artist Sama Alshaibi's First Book Explores Imperiled Water Resources . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160814002955/http://www.pdnonline.com/features/Iraqi-Palestinian-Artist-Sama-Alshaibi-s-First-Book-Explores-Imperiled-Water-Resources-13019.shtml . 14 August 2016 . Photo District News.
  17. Web site: 2021 . Announcement 2021 - Photography . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20220109223245/https://www.gf.org/announcement-2021/ . 9 January 2022 . John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
  18. Web site: Smithson . Aline . 6 May 2019 . The CENTER Awards: Project Development Grant Winner: Sama Alshaibi . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230827170108/https://lenscratch.com/2019/05/the-center-awards-project-development-grant-winner-sama-alshaibi/ . 27 August 2023 . 27 March 2021 . Lenscratch . en-US.
  19. News: 21 December 2017 . Arts Commission Awards Research and Development Grants to 18 Arizona Artists . en-US . Arizona Commission on the Arts . live . 12 June 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230827170107/https://azarts.gov/press/2018-ardg/#Alshaibi . 27 August 2023.
  20. Web site: 2017 . Grantees: Sama Alshaibi . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231020210120/https://www.arabculturefund.org/Grantees/947 . 20 October 2023 . 12 June 2024 . Arab Fund for Arts and Culture.
  21. Web site: 2014 . Sama Alshaibi - Arts, Culture and Community Building: Developing Educational Programming for the Palestinian Museum . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230828053229/https://fulbrightscholars.org/grantee/sama-alshaibi . 28 August 2023 . 20 October 2023 . .
  22. Web site: 10 May 2013 . Gift Impact – Faculty . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170331114344/http://uafoundation.org/about/news/articles/article_00106.shtml . 31 March 2017 . The University of Arizona Foundation.
  23. Web site: Swedlund . Eric . 3 September 2013 . School of Art Faculty Member 'One of Most Important Voices Today' . usurped . https://web.archive.org/web/20140706045336/http://uanews.org/story/school-of-art-faculty-member-one-of-most-important-voices-today . 6 July 2014 . UA News . University of Arizona.
  24. Web site: 6 October 2008 . Center Announces Excellence in Teaching Award Winner . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150427143233/http://fractionmag.blogspot.com/2008/10/center-announces-excellence-in-teaching.html . 27 April 2015 . Fraction Magazine . Blog.
  25. Web site: 15 June 2020 . 14 Black Artists on Life in America Right Now . limited . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230827170106/https://www.vogue.com/article/black-artists-life-in-america . 27 August 2023 . 31 March 2021 . . en-us.
  26. Web site: Rizzo . Angie . 4 March 2020 . An Artist Revives a Story From One Thousand and One Nights for Contemporary Times . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230314000945/https://hyperallergic.com/545870/an-artist-revives-a-story-from-one-thousand-and-one-nights-for-contemporary-times/ . 14 March 2023 . 31 March 2021 . . en-US.
  27. Web site: Hamilton Dennis . Celeste . 22 July 2019 . The Ms. Q&A: How Curator Grace Aneiza Ali is Reimagining "Women's Work" . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230603105214/https://msmagazine.com/2019/07/22/the-ms-qa-how-curator-grace-aneiza-ali-is-reimagining-womens-work-as-art-activism/ . 3 June 2023 . 31 March 2021 . Ms. Magazine.
  28. Web site: 27 March 2015 . When beauty rushes in: Sama Alshaibi at Ayyam Gallery London – in pictures . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20210621103154/http://artradarjournal.com/2015/03/27/a-terrible-beauty-rushes-in-sama-alshaibi-at-ayyam-gallery-london-in-pictures/ . 21 June 2021 . Art Radar .
  29. Web site: Grundy . Gordy . 20 June 2017 . Say Aloha to the Very First Honolulu Biennial! . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230827170109/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/say-aloha-to-the-very-first-honolulu-biennial_b_591f38a4e4b0b28a33f62bc3 . 27 August 2023 . 31 January 2018 . . en-US.
  30. Web site: Malik . Khadijah . 10 December 2015 . Sama Alshaibi: Unleashing the Saga of War, Exile, and Survival . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20150427143331/http://theculturetrip.com/middle-east/iraq/articles/sama-alshaibi-unleashing-the-saga-of-war-exile-and-survival/ . 27 April 2015 . The Culture Trip.
  31. Web site: 2011 . vs. Him . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160817123844/https://www.lawrieshabibi.com/exhibitions/11/overview/ . 17 August 2016 . Lawrie Shabibi.
  32. Web site: Collection: Payload-from project Warhead . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160817115958/http://www.aptglobal.org/en/Artwork/12343/Payload-from-project-Warhead/Sama-Alshaibi . 17 August 2016 . Artist Pension Trust . API Holdings Worldwide.
  33. Web site: Sama Alshaibi - Negative's Capable Hands . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230827170108/http://www.adrianelittle.com/temenos/2013_sama_alshaibi.html . 27 August 2023 . 20 October 2023 . Gallery Temenos.
  34. Web site: January 2010 . Sama Alshaibi and Dena Al-Adeeb . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230609113957/https://www.lightwork.org/archive/sama-alshaibi-and-dena-al-adeeb/ . 9 June 2023 . 20 October 2023 . Light Work.
  35. Web site: Milliard . Coline . 16 August 2011 . Artist Sama Alshaibi on "End of September," Her Provocative New Film About the "Hijacking" of the Palestinian Cause . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160806005214/http://www.blouinartinfo.com/features/article/38282-artist-sama-alshaibi-on-end-of-september-her-provocative-new-film-about-the-hijacking-of-the-palestinian-cause . 6 August 2016 . .
  36. Web site: Eltorie . Aida . Sama Alshaibi – Sweep . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230328174426/http://nadour.org/collection/Sama-al-shaibi-sweep-video/ . 28 March 2023 . 20 October 2023 . Nadour .
  37. News: July 2021 . Salma Alshaibi Between Two Rivers . Lens Magazine . 70 . live . 23 October 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220208151810/https://lensmagazine.net/sama-alshaibi-between-two-rivers/ . 8 February 2022.
  38. Book: Armes, Roy . Arab Filmmakers of the Middle East: A Dictionary . . 2010 . 978-0253004598 . Bloomington, IN . 62 . en . 664572234 . Google Books.
  39. Jayawardane . M. Neelika . 2013 . Cartography Without Frontiers: The Body, the Border and the Desert in Sama Alshaibi’s Artwork . live . Contemporary Practices Art Journal . XIII . 142-159 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230401232107/http://www.contemporarypractices.net/essays/volumeXIII/20.pdf . 1 April 2023 . 20 October 2023.
  40. Web site: Photographers - Sama Alshaibi . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150427003253/http://dev.enfoco.org/photography/photographers/view/18/samaalshaibi . 27 April 2015 . 20 April 2015 . Photography - en Foco.
  41. Fall 2007 . NOW: Professor Sama Alshaibi . dead . School of Art Newsletter . . 2 . 1 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160816203830/http://web.cfa.arizona.edu/material/NOWSamaAlshaibi.htm . 16 August 2016.
  42. Web site: 19 May 2009 . Artists Sama Alshaibi, Vahé Berberian and Adnan Charara: 'inside/outside & other oxymorons' . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160817002130/http://www.levantinecenter.org/arts/artists/artists-bios-sama-alshaibi-vah%C3%A9-berberian-and-adnan-charara-insideoutside-other-oxymoro . 17 August 2016 . Levantine Cultural Center.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Sama Alshaibi".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.