In 2024, the UAE is participating in the 60th Venice Biennale with Sites of Memory, Sites of Amnesia, an exhibition by established Emirati artist Abdullah Al Saadi. It is curated by Tarek Abou El Fetouh, Director of Performance and Senior Curator at the Sharjah Art Foundation. The show focuses on Al Saadi’s explorations of the wilderness. It presents his works (eight in total) that chronicle his journeys across the Arabian Peninsula. They will be available to see at the Arsenale (Sale d’Armi, Venice) until the 24th of November, 2024.
The exhibit on view in the National Pavilion UAE, which is curated by Jessica Cerasi, Maya El Khalil, and Shadin AlBulaihed, introduces visitors to Al Saadi’s creative process. During his journeys, he begins to draw, paint, or write once he feels fully immersed in nature, akin to the practices of classical Arab poets. They described this immersion as a prelude to the creation of their verses.
Sites of Memory, Sites of Amnesia invites one to dive into Al Saadi’s world and discover the artworks on display and the pieces stored in metal chests. Mirroring the artist’s studio ritual, performers present in the exhibition space reveal some hidden art pieces. The performers include not only professional actors, but also students of the Sharjah Performing Arts Academy (SPAA) who are a part of the Venice Internship Program.
In the metal chests, visitors can find maps, stones, scrolls, and drawings Al Saadi created during his journeys, each numbered, dated, and coded as a form of collective memory for the future. The artist emphasised how his environment influences his art during his solo travels, often accompanied by such companions as books, music, or animals.
Notable works on display feature A Journey on the Footsteps of Camar Cande (2011/2017). In 2011, Al Saadi went on a journey with his donkey, Camar Cande, and retraced the same route on foot in 2017. Another exhibited piece, Al-Tourbay Journey (2015), refers to Al Saadi’s journey to study traditional methods of bread making. He carried ten stones engraved with images of ten animals as his companions, which resulted in imaginary dialogues and stories depicted in his drawings and diaristic texts.
About the artist
Abdullah Al Saadi (b. 1967, Khorfakkan, UAE), who resides in his hometown, is one of a pioneering generation of Emirati artists. He received a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the United Arab Emirates University (Al Ain) in 1993 and studied Japanese painting at Kyoto Seika University (Kyoto, Japan) from 1994 to 1996. The artist continued his education, attending painting workshops at the College of Arts (Edinburgh, UK) in 1998 and the Wadi Project Workshop at the Arctic Foundation (Eindhoven, the Netherlands) in 2002.
Al Saadi’s practice encompasses painting, drawing, sculpting, performing, photography, collecting and cataloguing found objects, and creating new alphabets. His art is deeply inspired by Emirati landscapes, heritage, and his family history, often examining relationships between individuals and their natural and social environments. Among the themes Al Saadi is interested in are also memory and the loss of memory, preservation and ephemerality, and the interplay between tradition and modernisation.
Al Saadi has exhibited his works in multiple shows and art events including Sharjah Biennial (2017, 2015, 2011, and 2003); 1980–Today: Exhibitions in the United Arab Emirates (Venice Biennale, Italy, 2015); Al-Toubay (a solo exhibition at the Sharjah Art Foundation, 2014); Emirati Expressions: Realised (Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi, 2013); ADACH Platform (Venice Biennale, 2009); Languages of the Desert (Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany, 2005); among others.
To learn more about Sites of Memory, Sites of Amnesia, please visit the official website of the National Pavilion UAE.
You might also be interested in seeing Shifting Sands: A Battle Song by Manal AlDowayan.
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