Of Palestinian heritage and raised in Saudi Arabia, Dana Awartani’s practice reflects her skill and knowledge of Islamic geometry — a fusion of art, mathematics and spirituality. Many of her works emphasise handmade materials and collaborations with artisans from South Asia and the Arab world, and her installations often begin with geometric drawings that illuminate her formal and conceptual process.

Standing by the ruins 2022 is an installation of 439 handmade adobe bricks that create a refined pattern suggesting abstract flowers, stars and elements from the natural world. Adobe has been a method of building for centuries in countries such as Morocco and Saudi Arabia, and Awartani learnt directly from artisans whose families have been making these bricks for generations. In removing the binding element and allowing her bricks to show cracks and fissures, she evokes a contemporary experience of ruins and destruction alongside a careful and reverential act of creation and revival.