Dana Awartani: Come, let me heal your wounds. Let me mend your broken bones
Palestinian-Saudi artist Dana Awartani makes her debut at the Venice Art Biennale 2024 with an expressive installation of darning on medicinally dyed silk. Titled Come, let me heal your wounds. Let me mend your broken bones, the installation explores how war and terrorism continuously lead to the destruction of historical and cultural sites in the Arab World. She translates that never-ending tragedy by expanding her artwork, adding more layers and fabric ‘to make room for newer documentation,’ notes writer and researcher Saira Ansari.
Image © designboom. Image above: ome, let me heal your wounds. Let me mend your broken bones, 2024 | darning on medicinally dyed silk, 520 × 1250 × 297 cm | image © Marco Zorzanello, courtesy La Biennale di Venezia.
For many years, Dana Awartani (see more here) delved into the craftsmanship of indigenous communities mainly across the Middle East and India, seeking the wisdom and knowledge of artisans to enrich her work. For this particular exhibition at the Venice Art Biennale, the artist utilises that knowledge to reflect on the mass destruction witnessed in Gaza since last October; bombings and bulldozers flattening homes and hospitals and places of worships for months, indiscriminately. Assembled into a series of suspended yellow and red fabric, the installation marks these devastated sites through holes torn across the yards of silk.
These holes are then darned, which is ‘a fading practice that is more intimate yet undervalued compared to patchwork – each gash tenderly as a gesture for healing; the resulting scars symbolise the physical and emotional ones left behind in the real world,’ continues Ansari. ‘The fabric is dipped in herb and spice-based natural dyes that carry medicinal value, using the sacred healing properties embedded in the traditional textile dyeing practices of Kerala, which Awartani spent time learning.’ You can see Dana Awartani’s installation at the Arsenale, as part of the Venice Art Biennale’s main exhibition, Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere.
For many years, Dana Awartani (see more here) delved into the craftsmanship of indigenous communities mainly across the Middle East and India, seeking the wisdom and knowledge of artisans to enrich her work. For this particular exhibition at the Venice Art Biennale, the artist utilises that knowledge to reflect on the mass destruction witnessed in Gaza since last October; bombings and bulldozers flattening homes and hospitals and places of worships for months, indiscriminately. Assembled into a series of suspended yellow and red fabric, the installation marks these devastated sites through holes torn across the yards of silk.
These holes are then darned, which is ‘a fading practice that is more intimate yet undervalued compared to patchwork – each gash tenderly as a gesture for healing; the resulting scars symbolise the physical and emotional ones left behind in the real world,’ continues Ansari. ‘The fabric is dipped in herb and spice-based natural dyes that carry medicinal value, using the sacred healing properties embedded in the traditional textile dyeing practices of Kerala, which Awartani spent time learning.’ You can see Dana Awartani’s installation at the Arsenale, as part of the Venice Art Biennale’s main exhibition, Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere.
Image © designboom.
The 60th International Art Exhibition, titled Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere, is opening to the public from Saturday 20 April to Sunday 24 November 2024, at the Giardini and the Arsenale in Venice.
Find out more about Dana Awartani:
danaawartani.com