Saudi Arabia 2026

Title: May your tears never dry, you who weep over stones
Commissioner: Visual Arts Commission, Saudi Ministry of Culture
Curator: Antonia Carver
Exhibitor: Dana Awartani

Dana Awartani’s practice spans painting, sculpture, performance, and installation, with a consistent focus on the continuity of cultural heritage, craft, and artisanship – particularly sites and traditions across the Arab world that are under threat. Drawing on Islamic and Arab art-making traditions, her work combines material and conceptual experimentation with a deep engagement with historical forms and techniques.

A recurring element of Awartani’s practice is collaboration with master craftspeople and artisans who, whether in place or displaced, carry specialised knowledge that has been transmitted across generations and geographies. Her work treats this embodied knowledge not as a relic but as a living resource, situating craft within broader questions of cultural memory and survival.

The exhibition at the Saudi Arabia Pavilion extends these concerns into the context of Biennale Arte 2026, bringing Awartani’s long-term engagement with heritage, continuity, and material practice to an international stage.