Almansoori believes that physical locations unintentionally absorb thoughts, emotions, and memories. For her, a sense of place can either connect us more deeply to our roots or lead us to question, challenge, or even reject our origins, culture, and identity.
Salmah Almansoori is a multidisciplinary Emirati artist and researcher whose practice explores the intersections of identity, memory, and place. Working across painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, and site-specific installations, she navigates the emotional and historical layers of place — meditating on belonging, fragility, and the shifting cultural landscape of her hometown, Ghayathi.
Almansoori received her BFA in Visual Art from Zayed University, Abu Dhabi (2023), and has exhibited internationally at Cala Del Forte (Italy), Abu Dhabi Art, MENA Art Fair (Paris), and the 4th International Digital Media Triennial (Poland). Her solo exhibition Memories Are Home (2024) was presented in Ventimiglia, Italy.
Her practice has been supported by major cultural institutions, including the Cultural Foundation Abu Dhabi and Manarat Al Saadiyat, and she has participated in residencies and fellowships across the UAE, Europe, and the Americas. In 2025, she was awarded the National Grant for Culture and Creativity by the UAE Ministry of Culture and Youth for her project Archiving Ghayathi: Memory, Material, and Place and received the prestigious Beyond Commission by Abu Dhabi Art.
In her most recent body of work, Almansoori focuses on handmade paper crafted from palm fibres, desert grasses, and recycled materials — including discarded paper and fabrics collected from Ghayathi. These works become both surface and metaphor, serving as quiet vessels for memory and acts of resistance against cultural erasure.
Her works are part of public, private, and corporate collections across the UAE and Europe, underscoring her growing presence in the contemporary art scene.