Go behind-the-scenes as we install an intricate floor installation

Dana Awartani, Saudi Arabia/Palestine b.1987 / Standing by the ruins 2022 installed for ‘The 11th Asia pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’, 2024 / Compressed earth and pigment bricks / Purchased 2024 with funds from the Contemporary Patrons through the QAGOMA Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Dana Awartani / Photograph: N Umek © QAGOMA

Dana Awartani, Saudi Arabia/Palestine b.1987 / Standing by the ruins 2022 installed for ‘The 11th Asia pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’, 2024 / Compressed earth and pigment bricks / Purchased 2024 with funds from the Contemporary Patrons through the QAGOMA Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Dana Awartani / Photograph: N Umek © QAGOMA / View full image

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. Awartani’s Standing by the ruins 2022 (illustrated) is an intricate floor installation of handmade adobe bricks arranged according to the principles of unity integral to six-fold geometry. Fabricated from three distinct shades of earth, the bricks create a refined pattern suggesting abstract flowers, stars and other elements from the natural world. The installation takes its name from the Arabic trope of ‘ruin poetry’, founded in pre-Islamic times, which has seen a revival among recent generations of artists reacting to the desolation of war and state of violence across the Middle East.

Adobe building is an ancient practice shared across numerous cultures, including in Morocco and Saudi Arabia, and Awartani learnt directly from artisans whose families have been making these bricks for generations. In creating them, the artist deliberately removed one essential component — the hay that binds and tempers the bricks, preventing them from showing cracks and fissures when dry. In removing the binding element and allowing her bricks to show cracks and fissures, the artist evokes a contemporary experience of ruins and destruction alongside a careful and reverential act of creation and revival.

These installations often begin as meticulous geometric drawings on handmade paper, using materials like gouache and walnut ink (illustrated), that illuminate her formal and conceptual process.

‘The 11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’, featuring the work of Dana Awartani is at the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) from Saturday 30 November 2024 until Sunday 27 April 2025.

Dana Awartani 'Study Drawing 3' (from ‘Standing by the Ruins’ series) 2024

Dana Awartani, Saudi Arabia/Palestine b.1987 / Study Drawing 3 (from ‘Standing by the Ruins’ series) 2024 / Gouache and walnut ink on handmade cotton paper / 35 × 48cm / Purchased 2024 with funds from the Contemporary Patrons through the QAGOMA Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Dana Awartani

Dana Awartani, Saudi Arabia/Palestine b.1987 / Study Drawing 3 (from ‘Standing by the Ruins’ series) 2024 / Gouache and walnut ink on handmade cotton paper / 35 × 48cm / Purchased 2024 with funds from the Contemporary Patrons through the QAGOMA Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Dana Awartani / View full image

Dana Awartani 'Standing by the ruins' installed

Dana Awartani, Saudi Arabia/Palestine b.1987 / Standing by the ruins 2022 installed for ‘The 11th Asia pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’, 2024 / Compressed earth and pigment bricks / Purchased 2024 with funds from the Contemporary Patrons through the QAGOMA Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Dana Awartani / Photograph: N Umek © QAGOMA

Dana Awartani, Saudi Arabia/Palestine b.1987 / Standing by the ruins 2022 installed for ‘The 11th Asia pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’, 2024 / Compressed earth and pigment bricks / Purchased 2024 with funds from the Contemporary Patrons through the QAGOMA Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Dana Awartani / Photograph: N Umek © QAGOMA / View full image

Watch our installation time-lapse

Installation

Dana Awartani, Saudi Arabia/Palestine b.1987 / Installing the compressed earth and pigment bricks in Standing by the ruins 2022 for ‘The 11th Asia pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’, 2024 / © Dana Awartani / Photograph: C Callistemon © QAGOMA

Dana Awartani, Saudi Arabia/Palestine b.1987 / Installing the compressed earth and pigment bricks in Standing by the ruins 2022 for ‘The 11th Asia pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’, 2024 / © Dana Awartani / Photograph: C Callistemon © QAGOMA / View full image

Dana Awartani, Saudi Arabia/Palestine b.1987 / Installing the compressed earth and pigment bricks in Standing by the ruins 2022 for ‘The 11th Asia pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’, 2024 / © Dana Awartani / Photograph: C Callistemon © QAGOMA

Dana Awartani, Saudi Arabia/Palestine b.1987 / Installing the compressed earth and pigment bricks in Standing by the ruins 2022 for ‘The 11th Asia pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’, 2024 / © Dana Awartani / Photograph: C Callistemon © QAGOMA / View full image

Dana Awartani, Saudi Arabia/Palestine b.1987 / Standing by the ruins 2022 installed for ‘The 11th Asia pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’, 2024 / Compressed earth and pigment bricks / Purchased 2024 with funds from the Contemporary Patrons through the QAGOMA Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Dana Awartani / Photograph: C Callistemon © QAGOMA

Dana Awartani, Saudi Arabia/Palestine b.1987 / Standing by the ruins 2022 installed for ‘The 11th Asia pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’, 2024 / Compressed earth and pigment bricks / Purchased 2024 with funds from the Contemporary Patrons through the QAGOMA Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Dana Awartani / Photograph: C Callistemon © QAGOMA / View full image

Art that builds a path
Asia Pacific Triennial
Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art
30 November 2024 – 27 April 2025

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