Emii Alrai

Emii Alrai (b. 1993, Blackpool, UK) is an artist and trained museum registrar whose work spans material investigation in relation to memory, critique of the western museological structure and the complexity of ruins. Working primarily in sculpture and installation, her work operates as large-scale realms built in relation to bodies of research which concern archaeology and the natural environments objects are excavated from. Weaving in oral histories, inherited nostalgia and the details of language to question the rigidity of Empire and the power of hierarchy to interpolate the static presence of history. Clay vessels, gypsum forms and steel armatures punctuate the labyrinth-like spaces Alrai creates, mimicking museum dioramas and romanticised visions of the past. In 2025, Alraii is due to present a solo show at Compton Verney, Wawrickshire and partake in the group show Fragment and Form: Emii Alrai, Mónica Mays, Dominique White at the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds. Past solo exhibitions include Lithics at Quench Gallery, Margate (2024); A Core of Scar, The Hepworth Wakefield & iniva (2022); and Reverse Defence at Workplace Foundation in Newcastle (2022). Alrai is currently included in the group exhibition, An Axis of Abstraction: Art in Cornwall and Yorkshire – Then and Now at Leeds Art Gallery. Previous group exhibitions include Drawing Attention: Emerging Artists in Dialogue, a British Museum touring exhibition (2023-2024); life-bestowing cadaverous soooooooooooooo at CCA Glasgow (2024); A Permanent Departure for Nostalgia, A rehearsal on legacy with Zaha Hadid at the Contemporary Arts Centre, Cincinnati (2023); and Exploratory Drawings at Maximillian William, London (2022). Alrai’s work is held in public collections including the British Museum, London; Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds; the Arts Council Collection, London; the Government Art Collection, and The Hepworth Wakefield.

Download full CV here