Alia Al-Senussi, a member of the Libyan royal family was born in Washington DC to her Libyan father and American mother. She spent part of her childhood in Cairo and California, going to school in Switzerland, and studying in the US before moving to London.
After relocating to the US with her mother, she continued to visit family in Europe and the Middle East regularly. She then went on to study in Switzerland before earning degrees from Brown University, and the London School of Economics.
Al-Senussi recently earned her PhD degree from the SOAS, University of London. “So now I’m a princess and a doctor,” she claimed during the sidelines of the Milken Institute Asia Summit in Singapore.
Besides serving as the Milken Institute’s arts and culture adviser, and holding several advisory and philanthropic roles in different organizations, she also works for Art Basel as a VIP representative. Her work at the prestigious art fair is about “trying to make contemporary art from the Middle East a part of the international art world ecosystem in a very sustainable and thoughtful way”, she says.
That task has unique importance for a region that is not always associated with modernity. As Alia puts it: “If you only look at a part of the world in terms of its ancient history, it’s much easier to not value it as part of contemporary society. You forget that there’s a living, breathing population there right now, real people who are struggling, working, and trying to make their lives better.”
Having spent a lifetime reflecting on her Arab identity, Alia embraces the opportunity to be an ambassador for Middle Eastern art. Her mother is American, and her father is a member of the Al-Senussi family that was expelled from Libya in 1969.
“After that, I decided to devote my life to the arts,” she says. “For me, it’s all about expanding the idea of what it means to be a citizen. If you look at the people who come together in the art world, they often have very diverse backgrounds. That’s the kind of world that I think we all should aspire to.”
Alia was a founding member of Tate’s Acquisitions Committee for the Middle East and North Africa, and she sees the UK institution’s acquisition approach as a reflection of its broad-minded values.
In Alia’s view, though, not every city needs an art fair. “I think that there are other ways to support a cultural scene. Many people who only have an understanding of the capital markets think that you need an art fair because it’s where you can buy art. But why not just step into a good gallery to do that?”
Closer to home, Alia finally visited Libya for the first time in 2011, after the Gaddafi regime was toppled, and was able to meet some young creatives. “I’ve kept in touch with a few of them as they scattered to different parts of the world,” she says. “There’s a sense that life must go on. People are finding ways of expressing themselves in a hopeful and beautiful manner.”