Alla Abdunabi (b. 2001, Freiburg) is a visual artist working in sculpture and installation.
Her practice explores the material afterlives of objects through a mode of storytelling that merges the auto-ethnographical, historical, and fictional. Positioned at the intersection of material culture and the natural world, she examines how nature is mobilised to construct political and social narratives. This often begins as a tactile engagement with an object, which evolves, inevitably, into a negotiation with its narrative construction. The works take shape as she responds through formal interventions that unsettle them. Naturally, her position within the Libyan diaspora, and her movements between the global North and South, inform this inquiry, mirroring the shifting trajectories of the objects and histories she engages.
She has presented solo exhibitions: Are your memories of me enough for you?, 421, Abu Dhabi (2025), and In the stomach of earth, Abu Dhabi Art Fair (2025), curated by Issam Kourbaj. Her recent group exhibitions and public presentations include All the Lands from Sunrise to Sunset, Green Art Gallery, Dubai (2026); Blue Gold, Isola Space, Dubai (2026), curated by Jad Karam; Made With Your Magic, Dream City Festival, L’art Tunisie, Tunisia (2025), curated by Tarek Abou El Fetouh; The imaginary museum, Rizq Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi (2025); Bygones, NYUAD Project Space, Abu Dhabi (2025), curated by Anita Shishani; and Composite, Art Jameel Youth Takeover, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai (2023). Abdunabi has participated in the Firestation Arts Intensive Study Programme, Doha (2025–2026), the Beyond Emerging Artists programme (2025), the Cultural Foundation Residency, Abu Dhabi (2025), the Artistic Development Program, 421 Arts Campus, Abu Dhabi (2024–2025), and the Alserkal Arts Foundation Guest Residency, Dubai (2023).
email: allaabdunabi@gmail.com
Solo Exhibitions
2025 In the stomach of earth, Abudhabi Art Fair, Curated by Issam Kourbaj2025 Are your memories of me enough for you?, 421, Abu Dhabi
Group Exhibitions & Public Presentations
2026 (forthcoming), The Firestation, Doha, Qatar, Curated by Wael Shawky2026 (forthcoming), Made With Your Magic, Beirut Art Centre, Beirut, Curated by Tarek Abou El Fetouh
2026 All the Lands from Sunrise to Sunset, Green Art Gallery, Dubai
2026 Blue Gold, Isola Space, Dubai, Curated by Jad Karam
2025 Made With Your Magic, Dream City Festival, L’art Tunisie, Tunisia, Curated by Tarek Abou El Fetouh
2025 The imaginary museum, Rizq Art Gallery, Abudhabi
2025 Bygones, NYUAD Project Space, Abudhabi, Curated by Anita Shishani
2024 Porous passage, Public display, Bayt Al Mamzar, Dubai
2023 Unwritten, Unspoken & Told, Dubai Calligraphy Biennale, Foundry, Dubai, Curated by Maktoum Al Maktoum
2023 Porous passage, Public display, Alserkal Arts Foundation, Dubai
2023 Composite, Art Jameel Youth Takeover, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai
2022 Six Degrees: exit show, Dubai Design District, Dubai
Residencies & Programmes
2025 Firestation Arts Intensive Study Programme, Doha, Qatar2025 Beyond Emerging Artists, Abudhabi Art
2025 Cultural Foundation Residency, Abudhabi
2024 Artistic Development Program, 421 Arts Campus, Abudhabi
2023 Alserkal Arts Foundation Guest Residency, Dubai
Talks
2026 ‘Subtle sites of power’, Green Art Gallery, Alserkal Arts Foundation2026 ‘Building a Life as an Artist’, NYU Abudhabi
2025 Abudhabi Art ‘Beyond Emerging Artists’
2023 ‘Navigating the Art World: Theres No Such Thing’, Tabari Art space x ICD Brookefield place, Dubai
Teaching
2026 ‘How to Tell a Story: Travelling Images, Iconography and Historical Fiction’, two-day seminar, Sharjah Art FoundationPress
2026 Q+A magazine issue 02 Interview by Mandi Keighran2025 What Happens When an Island, an Oasis, and an Old Airport Become Art Exhibitions? by Keshav Anand for Something Curated
2025 Abu Dhabi Art 2025 Stakes Out Its Vision Ahead of Frieze’s Takeover, by Elisa Carollo for the Observer
2025 Dream City 2025, “Made With Your Magic” by Melissa Gronlund, E-flux Exhibition review
2025 11 Libyan Creatives Everyone Should Follow Right Now by Architectural Digest ME
2025 The Maghreb Issue, Canvas Magazine, Issue 117
2025 Art Africa Magazine, Issue 25, Exhibition Review and interview by Brendon Bell-Roberts
2025 Symbolic exploitation of the Barbary lion and music against injustice by the National
2025 Are your memories of me enough for you review by Rawaa Talass for Canvas
2025 Alla Abdunabi: Solo Show Transformed How I Engage With My Work by Asharq Al Awsat