Hiba Ali

What can we sing to ourselves to get through challenging times? We summon the power of our ancestors, tap into childlike joy and create a loving portal around ourselves. Lullabies for the stars in our eyes is a multi-installation exhibition that features songs of the hs, a project that explores Ali’s matrilineal lineage across the Swahili-Indian Ocean world. Thinking through the power of the breath found in the letter of “h”, written as ھ ح ہہ ஹ in Arabic and Arwi, Ali explores the back of the throat where secrets, anger and sadness dwell. Through historical research, they narrate their experience of love, loss and queer joy found in the body and its spirit. On the ground of the gallery,  Ali invites viewers to rake the sand that surrounds the projection “pool” and meditate on reflection and slowness. In a different alcove, lullabies for tears installation, we are greeted with a star on the wall, which Ali, refers to as their avatar, a gentle friend who helps them process challenging times. The star holds shelves with bakhoor [incense burners]. One at a time, viewers are invited to rest on the cushions and put on the VR headset with headphones as the star leads them through a somatic bodily sensing experience. The back of the throat is where the thyroid gland, known as the “butterfly” gland is located and where autoimmune diseases can be triggered. Ali has prepared a reading list that accompanies their research for these works. Through exploring intergenerational trauma and thus also our collective resilience, in Lullabies for the stars in our eyes, Ali leads viewers through an immersive installation of deeply sensing and invites us to reconnect with our bodies. 

About the Artist

Using virtual reality, 3D animation, augmented reality, and installation, Hiba Ali PhD creates immersive worlds of sound, smell, and enhanced experiences of the visual. These environments serve as portals that slow down time and connect us to our ancestors, descendants, and communities creating access to a network of calmness, solace, and care.

Born in Karachi, Pakistan, they grew up in Chicago and Toronto and their heritage links the coastlines of swahili, coromandel and arabian sea. They find home in the languages of swahili, urdu, arabic, tamil and telugu. Ali is an assistant professor at the College of Design in the Art & Technology program at the University of Oregon in Eugene and they teach about decolonial, feminist, anti-racist frameworks in digital art pedagogies. Their work has been presented in Chicago, Stockholm, Zanzibar, Vienna, Berlin, Toronto, New York, Istanbul, São Paulo, Detroit, Windsor, Dubai, Austin, Vancouver, and Portland.