Monira Al Qadiri (b. 1983, Dakar, Senegal) is a Kuwaiti artist whose practice explores global histories, ecologies, and cultural narratives. Raised between cultures and educated in Japan, where she earned a Ph.D. in Intermedia Art from Tokyo University of the Arts, Al Qadiri’s work primarily focuses on the worldwide impact of natural resource extraction. Through a combination of in-depth research and humor, in her sculpture, videos, and installations, she brings to the fore the effects of what she refers to as “petro-culture”—a society shaped by and reliant on oil consumption. Whether juxtaposing opulence and adversity, tradition and innovation, and the fragility of both natural and human ecosystems, her work encourages deep reflection on the pressing and urgent issues of our time.

Murtaza Vali is a critic, curator, and art historian based in Brooklyn and Sharjah. A recipient of a 2011 Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant for Short-Form Writing, he regularly contributes to various art periodicals and to books and exhibition catalogues published by both non-profit institutions and commercial galleries. As Adjunct Curator at the Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai, Vali organized the widely-acclaimed group exhibitions Crude (2018-19) and Guest Relations (with Lucas Morin) (2023-24). He is also the curator of Proposals for a Memorial to Partition, an itinerant research and curatorial platform investigating the lingering trauma and legacy of partitions in South Asia and beyond.