Photo Credits: Mai AlMoataz
Drawing upon archival research, oral histories, and experimental material processes, Alsaie works with copper patina, steel and mineral pigments, ultrasound imaging, expired film, glass, and metal surfaces to explore the porous boundaries between body and landscape. Her projects often begin with specific sites such as springs, coastlines, agricultural terrains, and industrial zones, treating them as repositories of collective memory where mythological narratives and material histories converge. Through these investigations, she considers water not merely as a resource but as a carrier of memory, ritual, and inherited knowledge.
Alsaie's recent work has focused on the disappearing water ecologies of Bahrain, tracing the entanglement of folklore, infrastructure, and environmental change through a broader inquiry she describes as Memoryscapes. Her practice approaches landscape as a living archive, attending to what persists within the aftermath of ecological loss and historical erasure.
She has exhibited internationally at Kunstmuseum Basel, Warehouse421, Noor Riyadh, the Old Stone House, and the Saudi Museum of Contemporary Art. In 2024, she presented her debut solo exhibition, Gentle Porosities, at Hunna Art in Kuwait.
Notable features in publications include Canvas Magazine, Mousse Magazine, Tribe Magazine, i-D Magzine, Vogue Arabia, Vogue Italia, Postscript Magazine, AlJazeera Plus, Emirates Woman, Womena, Hypebeast Online, Hypebeast/Adidas, MinaaZine, Harpers Bazaar Arabia, Mille Magazine, The Modern East, Nasi Magazine, Jdeed Magazine, KQED.
Education
⋆UC Berkeley, Urban Design (2016)
⋆NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study, Photo & Video Art (2023)
Exhibitions
2026
⋆Group Exhibition, Bahrain National Museum Annual Exhibition, Bahrain
⋆Group Exhibition, A Night of a Lifetime, Saudi Museum of Contemporary Art, Riyadh
⋆Group Exhibition, Anatomy of the Unseen, The Nest, Alula, Riyadh
2025
⋆Group Exhibition, Residency Showcase, Misk Art Institute MicroResidency, Riyadh
2024
⋆Solo Exhibition, Gentle Porosities, Hunna Art, Kuwait
2023
⋆Group Exhibition, Refracted Identities, Shared Futures, Noor Riyadh, Riyadh
⋆Group Exhibition, Azeema, Misk Institute, Bahrain
⋆Group Exhibition, Family Ties, Old Stone House, Brooklyn, New York
⋆Group Exhibition, Evaporating Suns, Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland
⋆Group Exhibition, Banat AlHara, Supported by Arab Film & Media Institute, Brooklyn, New York
2022
⋆Group Exhibition, Another Place, Gallatin Fine Arts Festival, New York
⋆Group Exhibition, Elsur Residency Open Studio, Mexico City, Mexico
2021
⋆Group Exhibition, She Gazes Upon Her, Warehouse 421, Abu Dhabi, UAE
⋆Group Exhibition, After the Beep, Dubai, UAE
2020
⋆Group Exhibition, Shara Art Festival, with support from BHA Art Consultancy, Jeddah
⋆Group Exhibition, Imprint, Misk Institute, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
⋆Group Exhibition, Gallatin Fine Arts Festival, New York University, New York
⋆Art Fair, Bahrain Fine Arts Festival, Bahrain
2019
⋆Group Exhibition, Art Space Inaugural Exhibit, Bahrain
⋆Group Exhibition, Dynasty, PS122 Gallery, New York
⋆Group Exhibition, Shado Presents: Global Womanhood, London, UK
⋆Art Fair, Art BAB Festival, Bahrain
2018
⋆Group Exhibition, Malja, Manama, Bahrain
2017
⋆Group Exhibition, The Nest, Manama, Bahrain
Talks
⋆”So What is True?” with Mashael Alsaie, Khosh Bosh with Anita and Sarah, United Arab Emirates
⋆“Women & Migration Summit”, with support from Dr Deborah Willis (NYU Tisch)
⋆"Art and Feminist Activism", Conversation with Artist Mashael Alsaie and Curator Julia Hartmann, Residency Unlimited
⋆"The Importance of Narrative", The Amad Show, New York
⋆"Nature, Gender, and Nostalgia on Film", Minaa Zine, Fikra Design Bienalle, Sharjah
⋆ “How to Put Yourself Out There”, Women’s Power Summit, Bahrain.
Awards
2018
⋆1st Place, MOE Art from the Heart, United Arab Emirates.
Residencies
2022
⋆Elsur, Mexico City, Mexico
⋆Uncool Artist Residency, Brooklyn, New York
2021
⋆The Salama Bint Hamdan Emerging Artist Fellowship, in Partnership with Rhode Island School of Design, Abudhabi, United Arab Emirates.
2020
⋆Residency Unlimited, Brooklyn, New York.