Shadia ALEM, one of the Saudi Arabia modern art pioneer…

Biography

“I grew up in Mecca, a city that embodies multiculturality through pilgrimage. Its colors, codes of languages and channels of thoughts deepened my hunger to build up a multi-identity that expanded later with the travels I was privileged to make. Since then, I always carry my city like a cosmopolitan cube reflecting it on the world and reflecting the world. This diluting nomadic nature is what I am trying to convey through my art, mapping the cultural transfusion within me.”

Biography

Shadia was born in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, and became a well-known artist in the Arab World. She is a painter, photographer and she create installations.
Starting as a painter, Shadia’s work switched to bigger volumes that found their way moving out of the canvas and into space. In part of her work, Shadia documents phenomena along the years and invests them in her art projects.
In 2011, she represented Saudi Arabia with the “The Black Arch” installation at Venice 54 art Biennale, that was the first participation of Saudi Arabia in Venice Biennale. 

Shadia’s work has exhibited in Saudi Arabia, the Arab World, USA, and Europe. As follows: The Riyadh Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale”, Saudi Arabia. Art Museum University of Memphis, USA. FotoFest, Abu Dhabi. One Thousand and One Night’exhibition. Institut du Monde Arabe. Paris exhibition “Le Corps Découvert” at L’Institut du Monde Arabe,Paris. Gallery Zilberman-Istanbul-Turki. Short listed for “the 2012 Sovereign Asian Art Prize”.Art Dubai”. Venice 54 art Biennale, she represented Saudi Arabia first official participation.“Dolmun Museum”. the Saudi Pavilion at the NABAT World’s Fair Shanghai, China. “Edge of Arabia” tour, London Venice, Berlin and Istanbul. KUNST Museum Bonn, Germany; Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris. Marx Gallery, Lille, France. Lille Museum Montparnasse, Paris. “L’estampe Arabe Contemporaine”, Thionville, France.“Arab Illustrators of Children’s Books”, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris. Euro Art Geneva, Beirut, The National Museum-Riyadh and the contemporary museum in Seoul, Korea. 

Since 2006, she has been living in Paris, France, engaging in social and cultural exchange and ex-panding her creativity, and exploring beauty and truth.