In Conversation: Sophia Al-Maria and Lydia Ourahmane with Robert Leckie

Join artists Sophia Al-Maria and Lydia Ourahmane as they discuss the themes of their exhibition Grey Unpleasant Land with curator Robert Leckie. The conversation is followed by a Q&A with the audience.

This event will be recorded and available on Spike Island’s YouTube channel.

Sophia Al-Maria

Sophia Al-Maria is a London-based artist. Al-Maria has had recent solo exhibitions at Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha; La Biennale di Venezia, Venice; LUMA Arles; Tate Britain, London, and numerous others. She is the author of three books: Sad Sack (Book Works, London, 2019 & 2023), Virgin with a Memory (Cornerhouse Publications, Manchester, 2014), and The Girl Who Fell to Earth (Harper Perennial, New York, 2012).

Lydia Ourahmane

Lydia Ourahmane is an artist based in Barcelona, London and Algiers. Ourahmane has had recent solo exhibitions at MACBA, Barcelona, SculptureCentre, New York; rhizome, Algiers; Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland; S.M.A.K Ghent; Portikus, Frankfurt; De Appel, Amsterdam; Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco and Chisenhale Gallery, London, among others. Her work was included in the 60th La Biennale di Venezia, 15th Gwangju Biennale, 34th Bienal de Sao Pãulo, New Museum Triennale and Manifesta 12.

Robert Leckie

Robert Leckie is Director of Gasworks in London. He was previously Director of Spike Island in Bristol from 2018 to 2024 and, prior to that, Curator at Gasworks from 2011 to 2018. Over the past decade, he has (co-)curated major solo exhibitions by artists including Pacita Abad, Monira Al Qadiri, Donald Rodney, and Tanoa Sasraku.

Robert is co-editor of Sidsel Meineche Hansen: SECOND SEX WAR (Paraguay Press, 2019), Peggy Ahwesh: Vision Machines (Mousse Publishing, 2021), Candice Lin: Pigs and Poison (Mousse Publishing, 2023), and Rosemary Mayer: Ways of Attaching (König, 2023). He lectures at the Royal College of Art, Goldsmiths and the University of the Arts in London, and was a jury member for the 2022 Turner Prize.

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