Born 1987, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Education

2012 Manuscript Illumination Apprenticeship, Istanbul, Turkey
2011 Masters Degree in Traditional Arts; The Princes School of Traditional Arts, London, England
2009 Bachelorette Degree in Fine Art; Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design, London, England
2006 Foundation Degree in Art and Design, Byam Shaw School of Art, Central Saint Martin’s, London, England

Exhibitions

solo exhibitions

2024 Dana Awartani, Samstag Museum of Art, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
2018 The Silence Between Us, Curated by Laura Metzler, Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
2017 Detroit Affinities: Dana Awartani, Curated by Jens Hoffman, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, United States
2015 The Hidden Qualities of Quantities, Athr Gallery, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

selected group exhibitions

2024 The High Line Plinth, New York City, United States
2024 Stranieri Ovunque - Foreigners Everywhere, 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy
2024 After Rain, Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2023 Matter as Actor, Lisson Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2023 In the Heart of Another Country: The Diasporic Imagination in the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
2023 Thinking Historically in the Present, Sharjah Biennale 15, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
2022 Art Here, Richard Mille Art Prize, Louvre Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
2022 Constellations: Global Reflection, G20, Bali, Indonesia
2022 Manifesto of Fragility, Lyon Biennale, Lyon, France
2022 Put It This Way, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C , United States
2022 Stories of Paper, Louvre Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
2022 Sarab, Desert X Al-Ula, Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia
2022 Abundant Futures, C3A Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Andalucía, Córdoba, Spain
2021 Feeling the Stones, The Diriyah Biennale Foundation, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2021 The Architecture of Transformation, BNKR, Munich, Germany
2021 Reflections: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa, The British Museum, London, United Kingdom
2021 When in Doubt, go to a Museum, The Museum and Galleries of Ljubljana, Slovenia
2021 The Secrets of Alidades, Saudi Art Council, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2021 Light Upon Light, Noor Riyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2020 Loose Leaves: Process, materials, sounds from Listen to my words, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, Singapore
2020 Black Box, In the Beginning: Media Art and History, Hirshhorn Museum, Online exhibition
2020 st_age, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Online exhibition
2020 How to Tread Lightly, st_age expanded, an exhibition , Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain
2020 Miniature 2.0, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
2019 Imagined Communities, Contemporary Art Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2019 An Instant Before the World, Rabat Biennale, Rabat, Morocco
2019 Zamakan, Ithra, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
2018 Infinite Present: Revelations from Islamic Design in Contemporary Art, Cambridge Arts Gallery, Cambridge, United States
2018 Unsettlement, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, Australia
2018 When the Clocks Strike Thirteen, Athr Gallery, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2017 L’Horreur Du Plein, Selma Feriani Gallery, Tunisia
2017 On the Sex of Angels, Nicodim Gallery, Bucharest, Romania
2017 I went away and forgot you, Galleria Franco Noero, Torino, Italy
2017 JIWA, Jakarta Biennale, Jakarta, Indonesia
2017 Bridges, United Nations, New York, United States
2017 Cities of Conviction, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City, United States
2017 Negotiating Space, The Mosaic Rooms, London, United Kingdom
2017 Exhibition 1, Institute of Arab and Islamic Art, New York, United States
2017 Safar, 21,39, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2016 GENERA#ION: Contemporary Art from Saudi Arabia, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, United States
2016 Forming in the Pupil of an Eye, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi, India
2016 For An Image, Faster Than Light, Yinchuan Biennale, Museum of Contemporary Art, Yinchuan, China
2016 Take Me [I’m Yours], Jewish Museum, New York, United States
2016 NOT NEW NOW, Marrakech Biennale, Marrakech, Morocco
2015 “Unity” A Quincy House Art Exhibition, U.S Embassy, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2015 Reinventing the Vernacular, Al Okaz village, Asir, Saudi Arabia
2014 The Language of Human Consciousness, Athr Gallery, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2014 21,39, Moallaqat, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2013 Illumination: The Light of Tradition, Linlithgow, Scotland
2013 Parallel Lines, Athr Gallery, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2013 Show of Faith, Qatara Center, Doha, Qatar
2013 Rhizoma, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
2013 Mostly Visible, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Awards and Residencies

2022 Richard Mille Prize, Lourve Abu Dhabi - Shortlisted
2021 Recipient of the National Cultural Award by the Ministry of Culture of Saudi Arabia
2020 Instituto Sacatar Residency Award - 21st Contemporary Art Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil
2020 Artists-in-Residence - NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore
2015 Artist in Residence - Delfina Foundation, London, UK

Publications

AlUla Ever - Assouline
A World of Endless Promise: Manifesto of Fragility - Lyon Biennale
Abundant Futures: Works from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Collection - Thyssen-Bornemisza Contemporary
The Architecture Of: Deception, Confinement, Transformation - BNKR
Stories of Paper - Louvre Abu Dhabi
Reflections: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa - The British Museum
Geometry and Art in the Modern Middle East - Sikra
Contemporary Kingdom: The Saudi Art Scene Now - Canvas Central
Nostalgia: Contemporary Artists from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - Imago Mundi
One of 100 - Maserati/ Ermenegildo Zegna