Ten artists from across the Gulf have been nominated for the second Richard Mille Art Prize. The complete list is available here.
The artists’ works are exhibited at Louvre Abu Dhabi until March 19 and the winner will be announced on March 20.
Dana Awartani, born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 1987, creates work that fuses traditional craftsmanship with a contemporary context. His BA at Central Saint Martins in London taught him to research and develop a concept, but “the thinking was more important than the end result or the making”. She went to the Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts in Shoreditch, “which was quite the opposite. They said to me: ‘You are not an artist, you are a craftswoman.’ It’s a way of learning. You really have to master the fundamentals to innovate.
Awartani is now trying to merge these disparate traditions. “How can craftsmanship be used in contemporary art? Craftsmanship is considered a dirty word, just a decorative thing. But the history of craftsmanship is not only decorative.
by Dana Awartani Standing near the ruins 2022 exhibited at the Louvre Abu Dhabi
Photo: Augustine Paredes – Seeing things. Courtesy of Department of Culture and Tourism, Abu Dhabi. Artwork © the artist
His work for the Richard Mille Art Prize, Standing near the ruins, recreates the geometric patterns found in Islamic architecture in the region. However, instead of sitting well, the tiles are cracked – Awartani handcrafted them from mud but purposely omitted the binder, the hay, meaning they disintegrated as they dried. “It is a work that examines the cultural destruction that has occurred in the Middle East in recent years through violence and conflict.” Another version of the work uses a motif from the Great Mosque of Aleppo, which was badly damaged during the ongoing war in Syria.
Awartani was born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Her work has been collected and exhibited around the world, including at the British Museum and the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC. But over the past decade she has experienced a boom in her hometown, where she still lives and works. “When I came back from London there was no art scene, but now that’s changing. I’m grateful because it creates an international dialogue where you have more people coming to Saudi Arabia – a great way to understand the country or the culture is through the arts.
Awartani studies Islamic enlightenment to help preserve these skills. “Craftsmanship is something that is passed on. In Syria, before the war, more than 20 workshops practiced mother-of-pearl marquetry, but as everyone was forced to flee, only one remains. This trade goes out with them. There is a lot of symbolism, a lot of meaning behind the craft that disappeared.
