Alia Al-Senussi Champions The Embrace Of Diversity

Art patron Alia Al-Senussi champions the embrace of diversity

- Hong Xinyi

Alia Al-Senussi is no stranger to multitasking. A member of Libyan royalty, this patron of the arts recently earned her PhD degree at the SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) University of London. “So now I’m a princess and a doctor,” she shares with an excited smile when we met on the sidelines of the Milken Institute Asia Summit in Singapore last year.

Her dissertation explored artists’ contributions to social change in Saudi Arabia, and it took her five years to finish, partly because she happens to be one busy princess. Besides serving as the Milken Institute’s arts and culture adviser and holding several advisory and philanthropic roles in different organisations, 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.