DANA AWARTANI (B. 1987), 'SATURN' FROM THE HEAVENLY BODIES SERIES

shell gold, natural pigment and ink on paper mounted on board

58.7 by 58.9 cm. 23 ¼ by 23 ¼ in.

Framed: 63 by 63 cm. 24 ¾ by 24 ¾ in.

Executed in 2015; this work is unique.

Hong Kong, Athr Gallery – Art Basel, 2016

Jeddah, Athr Gallery, In/visible: Objects in the Mirror, 2023

Dana Awartani is a Saudi-Palestinian artist born 1987 in Jeddah. Her practice explores and deconstructs traditional Islamic art forms and seeks a kinship in the knowledge of indigenous communities across the Arab world, India and beyond. Awartani received her degree in Fine Arts at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London, which greatly influenced her works which serve as continual acts of revival and performances of preserving and incorporating intricate manuscript illumination, parquetry, ceramics, stained glass, miniature painting and mosaics. She continued her studies at the Prince's School of Traditional Arts, London, and furthered her commitment to Islamic art by completing an ijaza certification to earn the highest form of recognition to transmit Islamic knowledge. Awartani’s work is included in the 2024 Venice Biennale, where her installation ‘Come, let me heal your wounds. Let me mend your broken bones’ is on exhibit at the Arsenale.

In the present work, Awartani demonstrates the precarious and perfect poetics of a mathematical approach towards creative output. Geometry is of course synonymous with symmetry and the beauty derived from it is an age-old appreciation: Islamic, Sufi, the art of miniatures, and indeed, all spiritual traditions - Western and Eastern - are anchored in the clairvoyance and solace that linearity can bring.