Shadia and Raja Alem represented Saudi Arabia for its inaugural pavilion at the 54th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia with The Black Arch, curated by Mona Khazindar and Robin Start.
The work of the Alem sisters can be read as a double narrative. Raja the writer, and Shadia the visual artist, The Black Arch was created through a profound collaboration between Shadia and Raja Alem. It is very much about a meeting point of the two artists; of two visions of the world; from darkness to light, and of two cities – Makkah and Venice. The work is a stage, set to project the artists’ collective memory of black – the monumental absence of color – and physical representation of black, referring to their past. The narrative is fueled by the inspirational tales told by their aunts and grandmothers, and is anchored in Makkah, where the sisters grew up in the 1970s. As a counterpoint, the second part of the installation is a mirror image, reflecting the present; these are the aesthetic parameters of the work.
The Black Arch is also about a journey, about transition; inspired by Marco Polo and fellow 13th century traveller Ibn Battuta – both examples of how to bridge cultures through travel. Shadia explains how she felt a desire to follow Marco Polo’s example and “to bring my city of Makkah to Venice, through objects brought from there: a Black Arch; a cubic city, and a handful of Muzdalifah (an area in Makkah of signifigance for the Hajj pilgrimage) pebbles.” The artists focus on the similarities between the two cosmopolitan cities and their inspirational powers. The double vision of two women, two sisters, two artists unfolds in a world of ritual and tradition which, however, confronts the day-to-day reality of human behavior with simplicity.
Commissioner: Abdulaziz Alsebail
