Issue

The Sketch: Manal AlDowayan: Time’s Echo

The Sketch: Manal AlDowayan: Time’s Echo
Preparatory sketch for MANAL ALDOWAYAN’s Oasis of Stories, 2024, at Wadi AlFann, AlUla, Saudi Arabia. Courtesy the artist and the Royal Commission for AlUla.

Two millennia ago, the ancient Nabataean people inscribed their stories onto sandstone cliffs, clay walls, and tomb facades throughout Hegra, an archaeological site in modern-day Saudi Arabia. For the AlUla Arts Festival in February, multidisciplinary artist Manal AlDowayan took inspiration from this history to begin planning Oasis of Stories, a large-scale land art installation that reimagines the walls of Old Town AlUla. After hosting participatory workshops, AlDowayan will cast residents’ drawings onto the constructed walls in an immersive labyrinth that mimics the Old Town, reviving the site’s ancient history while highlighting stories from the present community. To view the artworks, visitors will traverse through the narrow “streets,” physically and spiritually engaging with the land and its people. In the upcoming issue of ArtAsiaPacific, assistant editor Anna Lentchner speaks to AlDowayan, who is representing Saudi Arabia at the Venice Biennale in April, about the intersections of the personal and the political—from collective memory to individual identity.