Monira Al Qadiri is a Kuwaiti visual artist whose practice spans sculpture, installation, film and performance. Raised in Kuwait and educated in Japan, she examines the cultural and ecological consequences of resource extraction, especially the transformation of Gulf societies through oil. Her works frequently combine iridescent surfaces, enlarged organic forms and references to marine life, archaeology and mythology. By turning industrial or prehistoric subjects into seductive, sometimes uncanny objects, she connects economic history with questions of gender, memory and the relationship between humans and the natural world.
Her recent production demonstrates sustained international activity. The official site documents new sculptures Falconeri and Ocean Knight in 2026, alongside First Sun, Ouroboros and other major works from 2025. Falconeri, commissioned in Sicily, draws on the fossil remains of prehistoric dwarf elephants and the mythology of the Cyclops. Current and recent exhibitions listed for 2026 include Labouring Bodies at Museum Tinguely, First Sun in New York’s Central Park and the solo exhibition Hero at Berlinische Galerie. These projects extend Al Qadiri’s research into deep time, extraction and ecological imagination through monumental public and museum-scale forms.