Ali, Mona Lisa. steady echo, 2017. 2018 Individual Artist Fellow, Oregon Arts Commission.
Originally published February, 2018
“I attempt to reconcile the notion of belonging in a third space, not that of my ancestors or current place of being, but a mobile center that has no physical space.” – Mona Lisa Ali
Mona Lisa Ali Alzghoul is an Arab-American artist working in virtual and physical 3D media. Using CGI and sculpture, she navigates ideas of personal, collective, and national belonging, inherited memory and displacement. Her work has been shown in various international film festivals including Karama Human Rights Film Festival in Gaza, Palestine; AVIFF Cannes Art Film Festival, Cannes, France; and ALFilm, Berlin, Germany. Ali received her Bachelor of Media Arts from Emily Carr University in 2014. In 2016, she was awarded the Contemporary Art Society of Vancouver’s Emerging Artist Award. She recently completed a residency at YYZ in Toronto, Canada, and at Spring Sessions, a communal residency in Amman, Jordan, where she created a series of sculptures exhibited at the National Gallery of Fine Arts. Previous exhibitions in Oregon include Sculptor’s Showcase, Portland Community College and Art in the Airports, Portland International Airport.
Courtesy of the Oregon Arts Commission.
Artist Credit: Mona Lisa Ali.