Manal Al Dowayan

Biography

Manal Al Dowayan is a contemporary Saudi Arabian artist born in 1973 in Dhahran. She works in photography and installation, integrating various media in her projects. Her notable works include participating in the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024 with the installation "Shifting Sands: A Battle Song," which collects the voices of a thousand Saudi women. In 2020, her permanent work "Now You See Me, Now You Don't" was installed in the Al-Ula desert. Additionally, Manal collaborated with British choreographer Akram Khan as the visual director for the performance Thikra: Night of Remembering and performed in the rotunda of the Guggenheim Museum in New York with "From Shattered Ruins New Life Should Bloom" in 2023. Her works have been exhibited in various exhibitions, including Soft Power (2012) in Riyadh, the solo exhibition "Journey of Belonging" (2013) in Jeddah, "100 Masterpieces of Contemporary Arab Painting" (2017) in Paris, and at the biennials in Houston (2014) and New Orleans (2015). Manal Al Dowayan's work is characterized by a progressive exploration and critique of the role of women in Saudi society.