Saudi Arabia is participating in Bienalsur, the world’s first travelling contemporary art biennale, news welcomed by many, including Pope Francis, who was reportedly briefed on the event by its director, Aníbal Jozami. Works by three Saudi artists, Ayman Zedani, Faisal Samra, and Fatima Al-Banawi, are part of the biennale and will be exhibited in over 100 locations across the globe from June to October 2019.
Zedani’s website describes his work as pieces that celebrate the diversity of ideas found through experimentation and that “often depict novel layers within accepted traditions and narratives.” Samra’s bio on Ayyam Gallery’s website states that the Bahraini-born, Saudi-national is considered one of the Arab Gulf’s foremost artists and a pioneer of conceptual art in the Middle East. Al-Banawi not only a performing artist, but a writer and actress as well, and she is the founder of The Other Story Project, a project that collects handwritten life stories by Jeddawis and turns them into creative productions.
