Written by Christelle Al Chamy

Manal Al Dowayan is a contemporary visual artist born in 1973 in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. She is renowned for her work across various media, including photography, sound installation, and sculpture, created with porcelain, neon, resin, and clay. Though inclined towards art from an early age, Al Dowayan earned a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Suffolk University in Boston in 1999 and later pursued a Master's degree in Computer Science at London Metropolitan University. She also began attending art classes at Central Saint Martins and the Slade School of Fine Art in London during this time. After completing a one-year photography workshop, her Spanish instructor encouraged her to participate in her first group exhibition in 2003 in Burgos, Spain.[i]. To further deepen her understanding of art, she earned a Master’s degree in Contemporary Art Practice in Public Spheres from the Royal College of Art in London in 2018.

Al Dowayan grew up in the very conservative Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the 80s when art was prohibited in the KSA, and there were limited spaces or institutions to showcase art. As such, she had little hope of pursuing her artistic aspirations[ii]. This stood in stark contrast to the previous openness of the Kingdom in the 1960s and 70s when art was taught in public schools since 1958. However, the assassination of King Faisal in 1975 triggered a series of events that led to rising extremism, which dramatically transformed the Saudi art scene by 1979, stripping away many rights to creative freedom[iii]. During this period, women, in particular, had very limited opportunities to express themselves. The religious police exercised strict control over their appearance and behavior, even requiring them to be accompanied by a male guardian whenever they ventured outside[iv]. Still, Al Dowayan frequented women-only spaces that provided a platform to engage in artistic and cultural activities, even if all of these activities remained underground.

Al Dowayan’s art is deeply influenced by the harsh conditions she faced growing up, revolving around Saudi culture, women's rights, and the power dynamics that shape them.[v]. Despite the challenges, she emerged as one of Saudi Arabia’s most influential contemporary artists, earning international recognition. However, her journey was far from easy. Her initial career path was chosen by her father, who handed her an employment contract at Aramco Oil Company as soon as she graduated with her Bachelor’s degree[vi]. She embarked on a career as a Computer Scientist, which lasted until 2009 when she decided to resign and fully pursue her passion for art.

Coinciding with Al Dowayan’s career shift, the religious police were beginning to lose their privileges as of 2006, and social injustice started to subside in Saudi Arabia. This was a significant period in Saudi history, marked by a series of reforms that aimed to modernize the country and improve the rights of women. A few years later, Al Dowayan moved to London and pursued her art education; she attended art classes funded secretly by her mother since her father disapproved of her artistic ambitions.  

Al Dowayan's art is not just a reflection of her personal experiences, but a catalyst for change. She has used her art to address themes like collective memory and active forgetting, shifting attitudes towards women and culture. The transitional and liberal political change in Saudi Arabia allowed the art scene to flourish and expand, giving Al Dowayan the space to return to and express herself in her own country, and her art has played a significant role in this transformation.[vii].

Throughout her artistic career, Al Dowayan experimented with a wide variety of mediums, such as photography, sculptural neon, installation, porcelain, clay, silk, and prints. The theme dictated the type of medium used by the artist. For instance, Al-Dowayan used porcelain to represent fragility, namely the fragile position of women in a patriarchal, oppressive society.  

Similarly, al-Dowayan used clay to reference the ongoing archaeological excavations in Saudi Arabia as part of Vision 2030, which aims to enhance non-oil economies by developing archeological sites and turning them into tourist attractions. Al Dowayan also used printed words to visually represent the global portrayal of women during the period preceding the massive 2006 transformation in Saudi Arabia. She also integrated sound, photography, and various other mediums and shapes, each carrying deeply personal meanings for the artist.[viii]Al Dowayan is not just a solitary artist, but a collaborator. She is mainly known for her participatory pieces, where she gathers people from different ages and backgrounds in workshops, encouraging them to collaborate on artworks that resonate with their shared cultural heritage. This collaborative approach not only enriches her art but also makes the audience feel included in her creative process.[ix].

In one of her notable works, Just Paper – Group XV, 2022, part of the Ramzi and Saeda Dalloul Art Foundation collection (DAF), Al Dowayan presents porcelain rolls with a smooth and slightly glossy surface laid out in a somewhat scattered arrangement. The artist integrates Arabic script onto the surface of the soft porcelain before she rolls them into scrolls. Al-Dowayan chooses silkscreen print to include extracted text or calligraphy from religeous books onto the delicate porcelain. The work describes how women were viewed as fragile, frail, and needing protection. The porcelain rolls, like women, are so fragile that "even if you attempt to read [the text] on it, you will break it ."Al Dowayan harnesses the power of written words. She describes the written word to have significant meaning in Arab culture as a tool for healing. Just Paper – Group XV, 2022, represents the artist’s need to strip the books written by religious men of their powers.[x]. The books in question are impossible to find now, as they have been decommissioned, and the stores selling them have been closed after the fall of the religious police. This artwork is an attempt to recreate the women-only spaces the artist grew up in, free of the grip of the religious establishment[xi].

One of the turning points in Al Dowayan's career is her recent feature in the Venice Biennale 2024, where she was selected to represent Saudi Arabia. Her installation, Shifting Sands – A Battle Song, is a large-scale participatory piece combining sonic and soft sculptural elements. It is a maze where visitors can pass through massive, petal-like shapes crafted with golden-dust Tussar silk, black ink, and acrylic paint. The sculptural formations take the shape of the desert rose. The desert rose is not actually a flower but an intricate rose-like formation of a crystal cluster created under harsh desert conditions. It serves as a symbol of resilience and strength for the people of Saudi Arabia.

Adopting silkscreen printing, Al-Dowayan registers handwritten statements in Arabic onto surfaces of the petal-like formations that make up Shifting Sands – A Battle Song. The texts include demeaning and restrictive language used to describe Arab and Saudi women in the media, expressing a strong message about the impact of these words on Arab women's perception of themselves[xii]. There is, however, a noticeable shift at the center of the work, where the language shifts to reflect how Saudi women have started proclaiming themselves and gaining more confidence, symbolizing their liberation from the status quo and representing the control they have regained over their lives after the fall of the religious police. 

This multi-media installation evokes a powerful vision of womanhood in modern Saudi Arabia, telling stories beyond culture and geography. The artist insisted on infusing her piece with a profound auditory experience as well; she recorded the sounds of shifting sands in the desert and blended them into the voices of women reading their texts, creating a form of meditative ambiance[xiii]. Shifting Sands – A Battle Song, 2024, reflects the evolving role of women in Saudi Arabia and their continued efforts to establish their position and alter the long-standing narratives that have historically shaped identities, serving as a call for courage and solidarity.

Al Dowayan is working towards an important new commission for Wadi AlFann, slated to become a permanent piece in AlUla’s desert landscape as of 2026. This ambitious project will encapsulate her evolving reflections on the region’s identity, history, and culture. Her general aim through her art is to stir deep emotions in viewers, "I want questions. I want extreme emotions. They can hate it, they can love it, they can cry. But I can't do neutral. Neutral means I failed."[xv] Balancing her life between London and Dhahran, Al Dowayan remains a vocal advocate through her art.

Manal Al Dowayan is a prominent female Saudi artist, continuously challenging the gender-biased customs influencing the condition of women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia[xiv]. She sparks dialogue and empowers women to reclaim their voices and narratives. Through her collaborative art and workshops, her work serves as a rallying cry for self-expression and societal change.

Edited by Elsie Labban and Wafa Roz

Endnotes

[i] Muller, Nat. 2023. How I became an artist: Manal AlDowayan. February 20. Accessed June 28, 2024. https://www.artbasel.com/stories/how-i-became-an-artist-manal-aldowayan?lang=en.

[ii] Muller, Nat. 2023. How I became an artist: Manal AlDowayan. February 20. Accessed June 28, 2024. https://www.artbasel.com/stories/how-i-became-an-artist-manal-aldowayan?lang=en.

[iii] Mater, Ahmed. n.d. Development of the Saudi Art Scene from 1960. Accessed August 27, 2024. https://www.ahmedmater.com/essays/development-of-the-saudi-art-scene-from-1960

[iv] Bashraheel, Aseel. 2019. Rise and fall of the Saudi religious police. September 22. Accessed July 4, 2024. https://www.arabnews.com/node/1558176/saudi-arabia.

[v] Sharma, Gouri. 2024. Manal AlDowayan on Keeping Pace with Change. April 18. Accessed June 29, 2024. https://www.frieze.com/article/venice-biennale-2024-manal-aldowayan-profile.

[vi] AlDowayan, Manal, interview by TWENTY30. 2024. Leading Saudi artist Manal Aldowayan discusses the Venice Biennale, 'Shifting Sands,' and her journey (June 4).

[vii] Manal AlDowayan. 2024. Manal AlDowayan. https://www.manaldowayan.com/artists/.

[viii] Muller, Nat. 2023. How I became an artist: Manal AlDowayan. February 20. Accessed June 28, 2024. https://www.artbasel.com/stories/how-i-became-an-artist-manal-aldowayan?lang=en.

[ix] Manal AlDowayan. 2024. Shifting Sands: A Battle Song. Accessed July 5, 2024. https://www.manaldowayan.com/viewing-room/44-shifting-sands-a-battle-song/.

[x] Golkar, Babak. 2022. History in Fragments. August. Accessed July 3, 2024. https://www.sabrinaamrani.com/the-gallery/shows/prev/history-in-fragments-en#redirect-1719854481.

[xi] Muller, Nat. 2023. How I became an artist: Manal AlDowayan. February 20. Accessed June 28, 2024. https://www.artbasel.com/stories/how-i-became-an-artist-manal-aldowayan?lang=en.

[xii] La Biennale Di Venezia. 2024. Saudi Arabia - Shifting Sands: A Battle Song. Accessed August 27, 2024. https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2024/saudi-arabia

[xiii] Talas, Rawaa. 2024. Manal AlDowayan on her work for the Venice Biennale. April 19. Accessed June 29, 2024. https://www.arabnews.com/node/2495626/lifestyle.

[xiv] Manal AlDowayan. 2024. Manal AlDowayan. https://www.manaldowayan.com/artists/.

[xv] Talas, Rawaa. 2024. Manal AlDowayan on her work for the Venice Biennale. April 19. Accessed June 29, 2024. https://www.arabnews.com/node/...

Sources

Manal AlDowayan. 2024. Manal AlDowayan. https://www.manaldowayan.com/artists/.

Muller, Nat. 2023. How I became an artist: Manal AlDowayan. February 20. Accessed June 28, 2024. https://www.artbasel.com/stories/how-i-became-an-artist-manal-aldowayan?lang=en.

AlDowayan, Manal, interview by TWENTY30. 2024. Leading Saudi artist Manal Aldowayan discusses Venice Biennale, 'Shifting Sands', and her journey (June 4).

Bashraheel, Aseel. 2019. Rise and fall of the Saudi religious police. September 22. Accessed July 4, 2024. https://www.arabnews.com/node/1558176/saudi-arabia.

Sharma, Gouri. 2024. Manal AlDowayan on Keeping Pace with Change. April 18. Accessed June 29, 2024. https://www.frieze.com/article/venice-biennale-2024-manal-aldowayan-profile.

Talas, Rawaa. 2024. Manal AlDowayan on her work for the Venice Biennale. April 19. Accessed June 29, 2024. https://www.arabnews.com/node/2495626/lifestyle.

Golkar, Babak. 2022. History in Fragments. August. Accessed July 3, 2024. https://www.sabrinaamrani.com/the-gallery/shows/prev/history-in-fragments-en#redirect-1719854481.

Manal AlDowayan. 2024. Shifting Sands: A Battle Song. Accessed July 5, 2024. https://www.manaldowayan.com/viewing-room/44-shifting-sands-a-battle-song/.

La Biennale Di Venezia. 2024. Saudi Arabia - Shifting Sands: A Battle Song. Accessed August 27, 2024. https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2024/saudi-arabia.

Mater, Ahmed. n.d. Development of the Saudi Art Scene from 1960. Accessed August 27, 2024. https://www.ahmedmater.com/essays/development-of-the-saudi-art-scene-from-1960.