Abdu Ali is a Baltimore-based musician, writer, and multidisciplinary artist who works in sound, collaboration, video, and performance. Ali’s work often interrogates ideas of race, gender, and sexuality that manifests as poetic inquiries of identity, promoting liberation from oppressive ideologies and encouraging self-marginalized peoples to be self-determined. Their work also centers promoting authentic Black queer legacies and narratives as these histories are often subjected to distortion and erasure.

Described as a cosmic, punk, and soulful tempest on stage, Ali has performed their energetic and visceral shows at MoMa PS1, the Carnegie Museum of Art, and The Kennedy Center. Their work has been highlighted by The New York Times, The Fader, Elephant Magazine, and Tracks on Arte TV. In 2019, Ali founded as they lay, a curatorial platform that claims space for critical dialogue, collaboration, and radical envisioning for Black creative futures. They have held residencies at Red Bull Music and Pioneer Works and in 2022 were a visiting artist at the Brown Arts Institute at Brown University. Ali was also a recipient of the 2018 Ruby Artist Grant.