Elyas Alavi is an Afghanistan born Hazara artist living in Naarm/Melbourne. His multi-disciplinary practice examines the intersections of displacement, memory, gender, and sexuality through painting, installation, moving image, poetry and performance. His practice often interrogates histories in the South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region, exploring their entanglements with globalization, settler colonialism, and the mobility and displacement of Black and Brown bodies. Alavi holds a Master of Visual Arts from the University of South Australia (2016) and a Master of Fine Arts from Chelsea College of Arts, University of London (2020). His recent projects include a solo exhibition ALAM (2024) at the 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art in Sydney, and presentations and commissions for the 24th Biennale of Sydney: Ten Thousand Suns (2024); the 03 Lahore Biennale, Pakistan (2024); That I Could Fear a Door: storie di case e di vento (2024) at the Museo della Scultura Contemporanea Matera; JOY at the Immigration Museum Victoria (2024), and the TarraWarra Biennial: ua usiusi fa ʻava ʻasavili (2023). Alavi has published three poetry collections, earning critical acclaim and has been translated into English, Greek, Urdu, Kurdish, and Spanish, and has appeared in prominent publications such as World Literature Today (University of Oklahoma) and the PARSE Journal (University of Gothenburg).

https://www.elyasalavi.com/