LATIFA ALAJLAN

Latifa Alajlan is a Kuwaiti artist who lives and works in the United States.

She earned an M.F.A. in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2023, and a B.F.A. from the same institution in 2021. In 2024, Alajlan was an artist-in-residence at the Bait Shouaib Art Residency in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Alajlan channels elements of Kuwaiti culture in her paintings through the use of pattern and form. Her lattice-like underpaintings and gestural use of impasto reflect motifs prevalent in Middle Eastern architecture, including places of worship, government buildings, historical sites, and monuments. While her mode of abstraction honours the history of non-representational art in the region, her expressive and atmospheric works constitute a distinctly somatic and conceptually driven practice. Flight-like gestures intermingle with identifiable idioms, calling established systems of structure into question.

Alajlan has presented two solo exhibitions in the United States: at FLXST Contemporary, Chicago (2022), and at Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York (2024). In 2026, she will make her debut on the African continent, exhibiting with Galerie Farah Fakhri in Abidjan.