The commission is Awartani’s most ambitious to date. Building on her training in geometric art forms, the work draws on ancient mosaic traditions. Taking her practice to new levels of complexity in collaborative process and material execution, it is the result of in-depth research into places across the Arab world that have been subjected to devastating damage in recent years, and which are under threat from man-made conflict and violence.
From mosques to ancient palaces, including archaeological sites such as a necropolis and caravansary, the piece references twenty-three places of living and historical significance, each of which holds immeasurable cultural and material importance, recognized by UNESCO, the World Monuments Fund, ALIPH Foundation, and other public bodies that seek to preserve their threatened legacies.
The installation encompasses the entire floor of the pavilion, assembling mosaic references from across Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine whose shared motifs and traditions highlight common cultures spanning some three millennia. As visitors step into and traverse the imagined archaeological site, they encounter highly detailed geometric, floral, and faunal designs of extraordinary intricacy and material fragility. Eschewing binding agents, the bricks crack as they dry, conveying the potential loss of shared histories. This engagement with mosaics – a medium originating in Mesopotamia and sustained through Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and modern contexts – recontextualizes imperiled histories within a contemporary setting, speaking to a collective heritage that transcends borders.
Created over more than 30,000 artisan hours, the piece references the concept within master-craft contexts of “many hands.” A celebration of co-authorship and transmission of collective skill and knowledge, Awartani’s process is an act of preservation through this living heritage of making, which is also under threat due to both automation and the displacement of communities.
Awartani’s practice embeds this collaboration with master artisans, recognizing their indispensable role as custodians of ancestral knowledge over centuries. For the National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia, the work is also a collaboration with the Saudi context: working with thirty-two artisans at a studio site in the mountains outside Riyadh, the artist sourced four differently hued clay earths from distinct geographies across the Kingdom to create over 29,000 sunbaked clay earth bricks.
May your tears never dry, you who weep over stones is a plea to audiences that borrows from classical Arabic poetry, an extension of the artist’s practice and her rich layering of cultural references, where pausing before ruins is an active, contemplative act that summons memory, loss, and the continuity of time. Playing with notions of empathy for and solidarity with people who maintain a connection with the past and care for material heritage, it also centers materiality and organic matter – including the clay, earth, and stone used in said: “These sites are not merely stones – they are vessels that carry our stories and identities across time. 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. Just as mosaics arose in Mesopotamia and were adopted across cultures over centuries, including in Venice, material and cultural evidence demonstrate that our histories are much more interconnected than many appreciate. I invite viewers to join me as active participants in a process of self-inquiry into how we think about cultural heritage, its destruction, and its preservation.
It has also been a huge privilege to work with a community of so many deeply talented master craftspeople to realize the project. Preserving the intangible heritages that they carry is central to my practice, and the National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia supporting me to spotlight that on the international stage of La Biennale di Venezia means the world. I hope this exhibition highlights the urgency of preserving and protecting cultural heritage as a shared inheritance.”
Antonia Carver, Curator, said: “May your tears never dry, you who weep over stones has a real urgency: building significantly on Dana’s practice, steeped in both artisanship and conceptual art, it addresses a live situation and one that affects humanity as a whole. This ambitious work is a huge team effort and the result of extensive research and close collaboration with master craftspeople. Its slow, communal mode of making, centered in care and repair, resists mechanized production, aligning serendipitously with the theme of ‘In Minor Keys.’ We look forward to welcoming audiences to encounter a work that invites reflection on our shared responsibility as custodians of material heritage.”
Courtesy of the Visual Arts Commission, the Commissioner for the National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia
Hafsa Alkhudairi, Assistant Curator, said: “Working on this exhibition has been a reminder of the power of storytelling between us as curators and the artist, between Dana and the various artisans and skilled creatives who helped bring this monumental artwork to life, and between the poets of the past and the audiences of the present. This critical and nuanced work is transmitting well-researched narratives about our shared cultural heritage, urging us to safeguard it physically, emotionally, and in memory.”
Dina Amin, CEO of Visual Arts Commission, said: “The National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia in Venice creates a platform for the leading artistic voices of our time, and is an integral part of our support and celebration of the visual arts landscape within Saudi Arabia across local, regional and global contexts. This new commission has enabled Dana to create a work significant and deeply meaningful in concept, intricacy, and scale. A result of deep collaboration across artistic, artisan and research practices it’s a tremendous collective achievement. Thinking about our collective history as humanity, and the cultural legacy that we as humankind have left for ourselves and for future generations is incredibly important, and transcends borders, boundaries and barriers. I look forward to welcoming audiences to experience the work.”
The exhibition marks the National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia’s fifth participation at the International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. The Biennale Arte 2026 will be open to the public from 9 May until 22 November 2026.
A fully illustrated book – the first comprehensive publication on the work of Dana Awartani – with contributions from Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, Nouf AlHarthi, Saira Ansari, and Uzma Rizvi will be available from Mousse Publishing in Autumn 2026.About Dana Awartani
Dana Awartani engages in critical and contemporary reinterpretations of the forms, techniques, concepts, and spatial constructs that shape cultures in West Asia. Steeped in a multitude of historical references, particularly drawn from Islamic and Arab art-making traditions, Awartani’s practice straddles continuity and innovation, aesthetic experimentation, and social relevance.
Spanning painting, sculpture, performance, and installation, her commitment to historically situated and locally sourced materials addresses the complexities of continuity of cultural heritage, craft, and artisanship – including sites and practices across the Arab world that are under threat. Consistent throughout her work is a philosophical elaboration of geometric patterns as an alternative genealogy of abstraction.
Awartani was born in Jeddah and is of Saudi and Palestinian descent. Today, she lives and works between Jeddah and New York. She holds a BA in fine art from Central Saint Martins, London, and an MA in traditional arts from The King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts, London.
The National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia is located at the Arsenale, Sale d’Armi.
For more information on the participation of Saudi Arabia at the Biennale Arte 2026, please visit saudipavilion.org or follow the National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia on Instagram.
About Dana Awartani
Courtesy of the Visual Arts Commission, the Commissioner for the National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia
Dana Awartani engages in critical and contemporary reinterpretations of the forms, techniques, concepts, and spatial constructs that shape cultures in West Asia. Steeped in a multitude of historical references, particularly drawn from Islamic and Arab art-making traditions, Awartani’s practice straddles continuity and innovation, aesthetic experimentation, and social relevance.
Spanning painting, sculpture, performance, and installation, her commitment to historically situated and locally sourced materials addresses the complexities of continuity of cultural heritage, craft, and artisanship – including sites and practices across the Arab world that are under threat. Consistent throughout her work is a philosophical elaboration of geometric patterns as an alternative genealogy of abstraction.
Awartani was born in Jeddah and is of Saudi and Palestinian descent. Today, she lives and works between Jeddah and New York. She holds a BA in fine art from Central Saint Martins, London, and an MA in traditional arts from The King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts, London.
Recent solo exhibitions have been presented at Towner Eastbourne (2025), Arnolfini, Bristol (2025) and Samstag Museum of Art, Adelaide (2024). Her work has been exhibited internationally, most recently at the Bukhara Biennial (2025), International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (2024, 2013), Sharjah Biennial 15 (2023), Lyon Biennale (2022), and Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale (2021), as well as at institutions across North America, Europe, Asia, and the Arab world, including Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC (2022), British Museum, London (2021), and Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (2017), among others.
Awartani was shortlisted for the High Line Plinth commission, New York (2024), and the Richard Mille Art Prize, Louvre Abu Dhabi (2022). She received the National Cultural Award from the Ministry of Culture of Saudi Arabia (2021) and the Instituto Sacatar Residency Award, Sesc_Videobrasil (2020). She has been an artist in residence at NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (2020) and at Delfina Foundation, London (2015).
About the National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia
The National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia supports and celebrates the Kingdom’s artistic and architectural community. It serves as a meeting space for dialogue between creative minds, and an exchange of concepts and ideas. The Pavilion provides a home for research and ideation from the nation’s leading cultural voices.
