The exhibition is bright, beautiful and melancholy: an exploration of the loss of cultural and heritage sites in the Middle East destroyed by conflict and unsympathetic development.
Standing by the Ruins, a show by the Palestinian-Saudi artist Dana Awartani includes a recreation of an ancient bathhouse floor inGazabelieved to have been destroyed in Israeli attacks.
Another highlight of the exhibition, which opens inBristolthis weekend, is a room dominated by billowing sheets of colourful silk representing a map of the Middle East with cultural sites that have been lost pinpointed by rips in the fabric.
A third space atthe Arnolfini on Bristol’s harboursidefeatures a recreation of another floor, this one appearing to be made of the sort of tiles typically found in the old quarter of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Actually, it is made out of sand, a reminder of the fragility of such features as the buildings they are housed in are knocked down or modernised.
Dana Awartanihas a diverse background. Her father is Palestinian while her mother is Palestinian and Syrian. Awartani was born and raised in Saudi Arabia and has Jordanian nationality.
She said the work in her exhibition, her first solo public gallery show in Europe, was inspired by the “strange dichotomy” of some countries in the Gulf booming while places such as Syria and Palestine were “obliterated”.
Awartani said: “The destruction of cultural heritage creates a sense of displacement in the local population. If you remember what happened with Notre Dame, it was devastating seeing it burned to the ground. It’s the same thing, but hundreds of Notre Dames.”
The first piece the visitor comes upon are recreations of the red, black and white floor of the Hamam al-Sammara in Gaza, one of the oldest bathhouses in the region but which is now believed to have been destroyed.
Awartani worked with a collective of adobe brickmakers – craftspeople of Syrian, Afghan and Pakistani origin – and deliberately omitted the final binding agent so the work, called Standing by the Ruins III (2025), is delicate.
The second large-scale piece, Come, Let Me Heal Your Wounds. Let Me Mend Your Broken Bones (2024), was created for the Venice Biennale last year. Sheets of handmade Indian silk are dyed with medicinal herbs and spices and represent maps of countries in the Middle East.
Awartani tore spots on the “maps” that matched sites where archaeological or cultural sites have been damaged. She then darned them. “It’s a cathartic, meditative experience where you’re mending something.” Sadly, since Venice, she has had to expand the work to take in new sites that have been wrecked.
It took two technicians six days to set up the third large piece at the Arnolfini. The work is called I Went Away and Forgot You. A While Ago I Remembered. I Remembered I’d Forgotten You. I Was Dreaming (2017) and is the recreation of a Jeddah floor made out of sand.
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Asked how it felt to see the works displayed in Bristol, Awartani said: “It’s really touching and moving for me to have that space to talk about it, you know, a safe space to be able to talk about what’s happening.
“I live in New York, which is a very different landscape politically, especially now. There’s mass censorship happening, cancellations of artists. I don’t feel that in the UK so far. It’s important to talk about these things.”
The exhibition runs until 28 September 2025. For detailshttps://arnolfini.org.uk/