ALI HOBBS

Ali’s projects often emerge through extended acts of making rather than pre-defined outcomes. Early work included abstract animations projected across the electric windows of Lux Gallery and into Hoxton Square, London. This enquiry developed into The Long Walk, a seven-and-a-half-hour installation filmed in the Nuba Mountains, Sudan. Conceived through bodily immersion, the work preserves the full duration of the walk, allowing time, landscape and physical limits to shape the piece. It has been exhibited internationally in public spaces including Trafalgar Square, The Eden Project, Glastonbury Festival, Grand Central Station, Union Station and the Cathedral of St John the Divine.

Ali  went on to make To Begin, a 30-minute film shot in Southern Ethiopia, centring women’s voices, the physical rhythms of labour and shared presence. The work was exhibited simultaneously on large outdoor screens across five UK cities.

Alongside her own practice, Ali has undertaken short film commissions, including collaborations with other artists that translate and extend their practices. These works sit between documentation and interpretation, retaining her focus on presence and lived experience while responding to the distinct language of each artist.

Working in parallel to her artistic practice, Ali has built a career in factual television and documentary in production executive positions and as Head of Production, leading complex projects across the UK and internationally. This dual position brings together artistic enquiry with a high level of production expertise and leadership.

Committed to widening access to the industry, Ali is an industry mentor and regularly speaks at schools and colleges. She has taught at Bedford College of Art, Leeds Beckett University and Leeds Trinity University.

Ali is currently in residence at Ilkley Arts attic studio and is preparing for Air Sea and Soil - Soundings and Surroundings artist residency in Orkney, Scotland.

She has recently been awarded Arts Council England funding to support sound work in collaboration with artist Ann Hamilton, the Psychoacoustic Lab team at University of Huddersfield.

ali@alihobbs.com