Emii Alrai: The Scourging of Memory

An artist talk which will converge Alrai's practice and methods of recreating artefacts with the construction and architecture of the imperial museum, and how it has affected our understanding of our own relationship to material, imagination and the body sensorium.

Emii Alrai is a British born Iraqi artist whose work weaves together ancient mythologies and oral histories from nostalgia and museum collections to form objects which imitate archaeological artefacts. Concerned with the fluidity of memory and its relationship to the static presence of history, Alrai’s work draws attention to the contrast between the polished aesthetics of the western museum and the states of ruin which befall relics. Working primarily in sculpture and installation, her work operates as large-scale realms which mimic museum dioramas and the natural environments from which archeological objects are excavated. Clay vessels, gypsum forms and steel armatures punctuate the spaces she creates, calling on the lingering ghosts of Empire and reconsidering our romanticised visions of the past.

Emii Alrai lives and works in the UK. Recent solo exhibitions include Capture, The Towner Eastbourne, 2025; River of Black Stone, Compton Verney, UK, 2025; A Lake as Great as its Bones, Maximillian William, London, UK, 2024; Lithics, Quench Gallery, Margate, UK, 2024. Previous group exhibitions include Fragment & Form, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds 2025, Déjà Vu, Bold Tendencies, London, 2025, Ceramics Friends: 5th Virginia McClure Ceramic Biennale, McClure Gallery, Montréal, Canada 2024.

Alrai is the 2025 recipient of the Assetto Fellowship at the Warburg Institute and was artist-in-residence at Wysing Arts Centre, UK, 2024. She has undertaken residencies at the Villa Medici, Rome, Italy, 2023; Launchpad LaB, France, 2023; and Triangle Astérides, Marseille, France, 2021.

Emii Alrai. Photograph by Sophie Okonkwo.

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