WNAM REPORT: Saudi Arabia has unveiled a sprawling earth-and-mosaic installation at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, using traditional craftsmanship and references to damaged heritage sites across the Arab world to explore memory, loss and cultural continuity.
The exhibition marks the Kingdom’s fifth participation at the prestigious La Biennale di Venezia, one of the world’s most influential contemporary art showcases, the Saudi Press Agency reported recently.
Occupying the entire floor of the Saudi national pavilion at Venice’s historic Arsenale, artist Dana Awartani’s installation, “May your tears never dry, you who weep over stones,” draws from geometric Islamic art and mosaic traditions rooted across the Arab region.
Curated by Antonia Carver, with assistant curator Hafsa Alkhudairi, the work references 23 heritage sites recognized by international preservation bodies and affected by destruction or conflict in recent years.
“These sites are not merely stones — they are vessels that carry our stories and identities across time,” Awartani said in remarks carried by SPA.
“The work is a composite of many sites that are and have been under attack, and which hold significant shared histories that surpass contemporary borders,” she added.
The installation was produced over nearly 30,000 artisan hours through what organizers described as a collaborative “many hands” process emphasizing collective skill-sharing and traditional knowledge transmission.
Awartani worked with 32 artisans at a studio outside Riyadh, creating more than 29,000 sunbaked clay bricks from four differently colored earths sourced from various regions of Saudi Arabia. The bricks were made without chemical binding agents, reinforcing the work’s emphasis on raw materiality and traditional methods.
The resulting mosaic-like floor installation evokes both fragility and endurance, with repeating patterns suggesting the interconnected cultural histories of the wider Arab world across centuries.
Dina Amin, chief executive of Saudi Arabia’s Visual Arts Commission, said the Venice pavilion serves as a platform for leading artistic voices from the Kingdom while connecting Saudi visual arts to broader international conversations.
“This new commission has enabled Dana to create a work of greater concept, size, and intricacy than ever before,” Amin said.
Saudi Arabia has steadily expanded its international cultural presence in recent years as a part of broader efforts to develop its creative industries and position itself as a regional arts hub.
The Saudi pavilion is commissioned by the Visual Arts Commission under the Ministry of Culture. The biennale is open to the public from May 9 to Nov. 22.
