Shifting Sands: A Battle Song: Venice Biennale 2024

Shifting Sands: A Battle Song tunes into the energy of Saudi women during a period of profound cultural transformation. In her installation, Manal AlDowayan (born 1973, Dhahran) brings together the sonic and geological features of the desert with the voices of women, in a collective expression that defies

misconceptions about their lives.

Large-scale petal-like sculptures take their forms from the desert rose, a crystal commonly found in the desert sands near the artist’s hometown of Dhahran. The surface of these sculptures is silkscreened with
texts about Saudi women from local and international media. A cacophony of prejudiced opinions, these words and archives have distorted self-representation and limited women’s voices, hemming them into the straitjacket of outsider perspectives.

Through participatory workshops held in three major cities across Saudi Arabia – Al Khobar, Jeddah, and Riyadh –, AlDowayan has offered women and girls a platform to assert their own voices, both individually and collectively. Their self-expression is channeled through the distinctive “singing sands” of the Rub‘ al-Khali (Empty Quarter) – a vast desert where the towering dunes hum and drone as they shift.

AlDowayan has recorded the deep vibrations of the earth to enact the shift at the center of the work. Following the structure of battle ceremonies traditionally performed by men, the installation is shaped around a central motivating element. Here, it is the voices of Saudi women boldly proclaiming themselves, through song, speech, and drawings.

Shifting Sands: A Battle Song is a rallying cry for solidarity, and an experience designed to inspire courage. Describing her vision for this installation, AlDowayan said: “I hope this artwork will empower women to look within themselves and to lean on their community of women to find their voice and their space within this new chapter in history, much of which is still unwritten.”