Aliyah Hussain (b. 1986 in Blackburn) is a British Pakistani artist based in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. Working across ceramics, sound, and collage she draws on themes from feminist science fiction, speculative storytelling, plant thinking and ecological issues. Her practice explores the connection between ceramics and sound, working with embodied analogue sound capture methods to create soundtracks with/for her sculptural installations.
She approaches working with clay as an expansion of her drawing practice, using an extruder, fitted with custom made steel dies of her drawings, to produce works that sprawl across the wall. All made up from separate parts the installation borrows from collage methods, often remixing and reworking pieces made at different times. Often made up of multiples; like seedlings each one forms uniquely; her ceramic sculptures become surreal biomorphic forms that blend botanical references with imaginary plants. Her work is entwined with references to personal histories along with historical references through a decolonial lens.
Recent exhibitions include, Plant Dreaming, Leeds Art Gallery, 2026; Forbidden Territories, The Box Plymouth & The Hepworth Wakefield, 2024-2025 and She Was Waiting For Her Roots, Lowry, Salford, 2024. Between 2023-2025 she undertook an artists fellowship in the ceramics department at the University of Lancashire.