Dana Awartani (b. 1987) is a Saudi artist whose work aspires to the contemporary revival of traditional geometry and historical modes of making through crafts and artisanal practices. It embraces a multitude of methods and mediums: performance, intricate manuscript illumination, parquetry, ceramics, embroidery, and pigment preparation. Her practice deconstructs, reinterprets, and repeats sign systems, revealing their immutable patterns and demonstrating the structure of their meaning.
Solo exhibitions include: The Silence Between Us, Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah (2018); Detroit Affinities: Dana Awartani, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit (2017); and The Hidden Qualities of Quantities, Athr, Jeddah (2015). Awartani’s work is in the collections of the Sheikh Zayed National Museum, Abu Dhabi, the Greenbox Museum, Amsterdam; The British Museum, London; Guggenheim Museum, New York; and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.
