A Dialogue With Artist Manal AlDowayan On The Identity & Disappearance Of The Saudi Woman (October 2012)

The Department of English  and the AUS Saudi cultural club presents a Lecture by Saudi Arabian Artist Manal Al Dowayan

ManalAlDowayan was born in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia in 1973. She took part in a numberof courses in differing art institutions in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Bahrain andLondon. She is currently part of the British Council International CulturalLeaders program. AlDowayan was an artist in residence at the Delfina Foundationin London, at Cuadro Fine Art Gallery in Dubai and at The Townhouse Gallery inEgypt. Her artworks are part of prominent permanent collections such as theBritish Museum, the Jordan National Museum of Fine Art, the Abu Dhabi Authorityfor Culture and Heritage (ADACH), the Delfina Foundation in London, the NadourFoundation in Germany, and the Barjeel Foundation in Sharjah. AlDowayan hasparticipated in numerous touring group exhibitions including the BritishCouncil's Common Ground project in 2006, the Saudi-Italian artist exchange,Nawafith (2007/09), Freedom to Create (2011), and Edge of Arabia (2008-11).Manal has also exhibited regionally and internationally, in Spain, Netherlands,Italy, Belgium, Germany, Turkey, Korea, India, Bahrain, the UK, USA, UAE andSaudi Arabia.

ManalAlDowayan won an international call for artists for the "ImaginingOurselves" anthology in 2003, which was managed by the InternationalMuseum of Women in San Francisco. Her photograph "Pointing to theFuture" was exhibited in New York at the 49th Session of the UnitedNations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in 2005. AlDowayan alsoexhibited her work during the 2009 and 2011 Venice Biennale and the 2010 BerlinBiennale and Contemporary Istanbul. Her work will be shown at London's Victoria& Albert Museum in November 2012 as part of the "Light From the MiddleEast" exhibition and will tour internationally thereafter. In December2012, the artist will address 88 former world leaders at the Club de Madrid'sannual session, entitled "Harnessing 21st Century Challenges: A Focus onWomen" and her work will be exhibited at the Clinton Presidential Libraryuntil March 2013.

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