In 2020 Ali was awarded the opportunity to create a film that focused on artist Yinka Shonibare CBE RA and his approach to creating Hibiscus Rising, Shonibare’s 9.5-metre public sculpture, honouring David Oluwale, for the centre of Leeds. The sculpture was unveiled in November 2023.

The vibrant hibiscus artwork commemorates Oluwale, a British-Nigerian man who drowned in the River Aire in 1969 after systematic police harassment, as a powerful symbol of hope, diversity, and a new legacy for Leeds.

The film was used to raise funds for the sculpture and then was exhibited at The Tetley Art Gallery in Leeds, which ran through to early 2023, and later at the Stephen Friedman Gallery in Soho, London, alongside Yinka Shonibare’s work Autumn 2024.