Dr. Nouf Alhimiary is an artist and researcher whose work examines the body as an interface of memory under digital conditions. Her practice unfolds through installations, performance, through which she explores how digital systems shape the production, disappearance, and circulation of the past. She engages interaction, speculation, play, and collective encounters to destabilise and reconfigure these systems as sites of digital memory work.
Her scholarly interests include digital memory and mnemonic practices, embodied remembering, digital technologies, platformed forms of cultural authorship, feminist new materialist approaches, and speculative memory practices.
For a complete portfolio of work please contact: info@noufling.com
Education
University College London
PhD in Culture, Communication & Media (Digital Memory Studies)
Passed
2020-2025
Yale Visiting Scholar at Women, Gender and Sexuality Department (WGSS) and Center for Collaborative Art and Media (CCAM)
2021-2022
London School of Economics and Political Science
MSc in Gender, Media and Culture
(Distinction)
2018-2019
Effat University
BSc in English Literature and Linguistics
2011-2015
Teaching and Curriculum Experience
2025 - 2026 Riyadh University of Arts
Curriculum Design Expert Consultant (BA and MA programs).
2025 Royal College of the Arts
Developed postgraduate student workshop.
2023 COMMUN (Safe Spaces Programme)
Developed and led a short course for early-career artists.
2021 Yale University
BA Junior research Methods Module Contributor,
Focusing on Virtual Ethnography, exploring embodied and platform-based research methods.
Residencies
2026 Delfina Foundation, London, UK.
2023 Villa Lena Residency, Tuscany, Italy.
2023 Sigg Art Residency, Athens, Greece.
2020 AlBalad Residency, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
2019 Haramacy residency, Albany Theatre, London, UK.
2016 Bates Museum of Art Visiting Artist, Anthropology Department, Maine, USA.
2012 Off Screen Expedition, Crossway Foundation x Edge of Arabia, UK.
Commissions & Solo Projects
2026
“Spatial Memory in Flux”, Interface based performance,
Diriyah Biennale, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
2025
“Rise Habibi,” site-specific installation, Shubbak Festival, London, UK.
2023
“Parallel,” AR installation commissioned by Ministry of Culture, Saudi Arabia (multi-city exhibition).
2019
“Algorithmic Intimacies,” commissioned immersive performance and installation (Hervisions), The Mosaic Rooms, London, UK.
2019
“Surrounded by you: Divided from you,” commissioned project by Present Futures, “Becoming an Archive”, Women’s Art Library, Goldsmith University, London, UK.
2016
“Desire to Not Exist,” mural commission, Fully Booked Book Fair, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai Art Week, UAE.
2015
Cover for “The Internet,” commissioned work, OOMK, Issue Four.
Group Exhibitions & Screenings
2026
- “Open House,” Delfina Foundation, London, UK.
2025
- “High Tide” (two-person exhibition), Royal College of Art, London, UK.
- “Ad Interim,” Hope 93, London, UK.
2023
“Selections from the Diversity Collection Program,” Bates College Museum of Art, Lewiston, ME, USA.
2019
- “Arab-British Womxn Film Screening,” Habibi Collective, Catford Mews, London, UK.
- “Haramacy Festival,” The Albany Theatre, London, UK.
2017
- “Cities of Conviction,” Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, UT, USA.
- “Radical Love, Female Lust,” Women of the World Festival, Ireland.
- “Radical Love, Female Lust,” Crypt Gallery, London, UK.
2016
- “Phantom Punch,” Bates College Museum of Art, ME, USA.
2015
- “Invisible Lines,” Islamic Human Rights Commission Gallery, London, UK.
2014
- “Islamic Art Festival,” Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah, UAE.
- “Fotofest Biennial,” Houston, TX, USA.
- “Rhizoma: Generation in Waiting,” Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy.
2013
- “Mostly Visible,” Jeddah Art Week, Saudi Arabia.
2012
- “Hajj: A Journey to the Heart of Islam,” British Museum, London, UK.
2011
“Articulate”. Effat University Student Exhibition, Jeddah,Saudi Arabia.
Collections
Villa Lena Foundation Collection.
Women’s Art Library, Goldsmith’s University.
Bates Museum of Art.
Talks and Lectures
2026
2025
- “Staging Digital Memory in Saudi Arabia: Archive Aesthetics and Embodied Storytelling With Digital Platforms“, at “Everything Is Possible and Nothing Is True,” FIAT/IFTA Conference, October 2025.
- “In Conversation with Nouf Alhimiary and Delaine Le Bas,” Royal College of Art, London, UK.
- “Interactive Conversation,” Goethe-Institut Library, London, UK.
2021
- “The Dialectic of Presence: A Virtual Ethnography of Online”, at “Culture Made in Arabia,” New York University & Sorbonne University, April 2021.
- “Seminar on Virtual Ethnographies,” Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
2020
- “Participatory Discussions on Mental Health and Identity Politics,” SOAS University of London, London, UK.
- “Arab Women Artists Now,” RichMix, London, UK.
2019
- Lecture at “Gender, Sexuality and Globalisation Conference,” London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.
- Artist Talk, Catford Mews, London, UK.
- Artist Talk, The Albany Theatre, London, UK.
2017
- “MED Dialogues,” Rome, Italy.
2016
- Artist Talk, Bates College, Lewiston, ME, USA.
2013
- “Typographical Image Making,” commissioned workshop, Jeddah Art Week, Saudi Arabia.
Recognition
2026 VAC Honorarium to Delfina Foundation
2021 Yale-UCL Collaborative Visiting Scholar Grant
2020 MOC Cultural Scholarship Program
2018 Misk Fellowship
2018 SBMF Scholarship
2017 Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs x ISPI, MED Young Leader
2014 Crossway Foundation Grant to Fotofest
2012 Most Creative Youth by Edge of Arabia
2010 Effat University Merit Scholarship
Publications
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles:
- Alhimiary, Nouf. “Staging the Spectral Kin.” Memory, Mind & Media, special issue After Memory: Shifting Perceptions of Time and Temporality in the Digital Condition, forthcoming.
- Alhimiary, Nouf. “Reverse Haunting the Algorithm.” Review of Middle East Studies, special issue on Digital Humanities in Middle East Studies, forthcoming.
Book Chapters:
- Alhimiary, Nouf. “Scrolling as Digital Choreography.” Intersecting Intimacies: Auto-Ethnographic Explorations of Researchers Who Swipe, Share, and Study Digital Intimacy, Bloomsbury Academic, forthcoming. Book chapter.
- Alhimiary, Nouf. “My Love Is Vast, but So Is My Difference.” Haramacy Anthology: A Collection of Essays, 2020.
Exhibition Catalogues & Institutional Publications
- Alhimiary, Nouf (artist). High Tides. Royal College of Art, 2025.
- Alhimiary, Nouf, and Present Futures. Divided from You : Surrounded with You. c(2019).
- Alhimiary, Nouf (artist). Cities of Conviction. Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City. Curated by Jared Steffensen, 2017.
- Alhimiary, Nouf (artist). Phantom Punch: Contemporary Art from Saudi Arabia in Lewiston. Bates College Museum of Art, 2016.
- Alhimiary, Nouf (artist). Islamic Art Festival Catalogue. Sharjah Art Museum, 2014.
- Alhimiary, Nouf (artist). Rhizoma (Generation in Waiting). Curated by Sara Raza and Ashraf Fayadh. 55th Venice Biennale, Edge of Arabia, 2013.
Other writing:
- Alhimiary, Nouf. “Performing Girl, Undisciplined.” Raw Journals, 2021.
- Alhimiary, Nouf. “Can We Stop Shaming Each Other for Being Fake Online and Accept That Social Media Is Performative?” Galdem Magazine, 2019.
Academic Reviews
Rashid, Shahad. “Mapping the Arab Diaspora: Examining Placelessness and Memory in Arab Art”. The University of Western Ontario, 2017.
Quinn, Lisa A. Contemporary Curatorial and Exhibition Practices at Twenty-First Century Academic Art Museums. Ohio University, 2019.
Marazzi, Antonio. “An Encyclopedic Art Biennale in Venice.” Visual Anthropology, vol. 27, no. 3, 2014, pp. 276–301.
Raza, Sara. “Rhizoma (Generation in Waiting) – The Edge of Arabia Project in Venice Biennale 2013.” Contemporary Practices Art Journal, vol. XIII, 2013.
Press and Media
2025 [interview] Marie Claire Arabia, ‘Untold Women Stories with Nouf Alhimiary’.
2024 [Interview] Juliette Magazine, ‘Studio visit diaries #1 (feat Villa Lena): Nouf Alhimiary in conversation with Federico Montagna‘.
2023 [Interview] Harpers Bazaar, ‘Womb Power: Meet The Arab Artists Exploring Motherhood And Femininity Through Their Oeuvre‘.
2022 [Interview] Grazia Magazine, ‘Artists from Saudi Arabia’.
2019 [news] Mosaic Rooms, ‘The Salon of Disobedience: Algorithmic Intimacies Hervisions with Nouf Alhimiary‘.
2017 [news] AQNB, ‘Spiritual parallels connecting Saudi Arabia + Utah in Cities of Conviction at UMOCA‘.
2017 [profile] Mid East Art, ‘Nouf Alhimiary: Interview’.
2016 [news] AramcoWorld, ‘Ambassadors of Art‘.
2016 [profile] Bates Museum of Art, ‘An Introduction to a Cultural Phantom Punch with Artist Nouf Alhimiary‘.
2016 [profile] Buzzfeed, ‘Nouf Alhimiary’s photos depict women in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from different walks of life, all dressed in the traditional abaya’.
2016 [news] HuffPost Art and Culture, ‘Artist Turns A Daily Fashion Log Into Feminist Activism‘.
2015 [profile] The Floating Magazine, ‘Nouf Alhimiary’.
2014 [profile] Brownbook Magazine, ‘Rhizoma, Nouf Alhimiary’.
2014 [news] Alarabiya, ‘Arabs in America: Saudi artists launch U.S. tour‘.