My name is Hajar Ali. Singapore-born and currently Dubai-based, I call the genre of my art 'Reverse Orientalism': co-opting and sometimes subverting, Occidental imagery to create Orientalist art. 

Originally created as an academic field to address the issues raised by Edward Said, I have translated this philosophy into art.

Prior to becoming an artist, my background was in luxury adventure travel. I became the first woman to cross the Empty Quarter, the world's largest sand desert, in 2012, a feat that the explorer Rosita Forbes had her mind set on and an area that had captured the imagination of the likes of St John Philby and Wilfred Thesiger. My academic background is in strategic studies and I find my work in critical studies and political Islam to have greatly shaped my worldview. 

I continue to push boundaries as an artist, creating the world's first dynamic AI NFT, combining storytelling and gamification, coding and AI.