Beyond the Black: Saudi sisters create buzz at the Venice Biennale

The darkness of black and the blackness of the dark. Dark because it bears mysteries, black because tradition says so. Stop and think for a while: Is black as meaningful as it is plain?

For two Saudi sisters, black is more than a color. Enter Shadia and Raja Alem, an artist and a writer from Mecca, conceptualizing black with emblematic ties to Saudi and Islamic tradition.

The Alem sisters are showcasing their work, “The Black Arch,” in the first pavilion from Saudi Arabia to feature at the Venice Biennale, the world’s pre-eminent art show that is currently taking place. The Saudi entry at the Venice fair is a “peak behind the curtain” piece, looking beyond the anonymity of black in the artistic form of a 24-foot long ellipse sculpture covered in black cloth.

“Only when you go round the back of it do you become aware of its other face of burnished steel in which your own milky reflection mingles,” writes the Financial Times about the Saudi installation.

On the steel side there are “ghostly” photographic projections of pilgrims praying in Mecca and paintings of Arab merchants taken from Venetian paintings. A blurry projection of Arabian imagery, all behind the black.

And so, “The Black Arch” is reminiscent of the Islamic pilgrimage, but it is not defined as a religious art piece, per se. The Kaaba -- Islam’s ancient holy stone that is shrouded in a black cloth -- is symbolic of the many things black can conceal: a religion, a culture, and an atmosphere.

“We grew up aware of the physical presence of black all around,” Raja Alem told the FT. “The black silhouettes of Saudi women, the black covering of the Kaaba and the black stone [a key feature of the Kaaba].”

“We are interested in the black façade and what lies behind it. We are discussing not only the physical black but also the psychological black. The barrier of black to the unknown,” she added.

The piece is complemented with “sound recordings of Venetian church bells and lapping water interwoven with the sounds of Mecca,” the newspaper adds. These sounds are inspired by the Bedouin songs that were sung by the men of the household, which the sisters remember hearing in their childhood.

The curators of the art fair had invited the sisters amongst other Saudi artists to present individual projects that would represent Saudi Arabia at the Venice Biennale for the first time. Shadia Alem says that they were told to work on a project that would fit with the theme of “ILLUMInations.”

And the Alem sisters looked to be a charming choice. Their artistic portfolios spans years of inspired creations and are no less than impressive.

In an exhibition in Lille, France last year about 9/11, the pair filled a gallery with rolled up newspapers and singed them, presenting them as sticks of dynamite.

“Newspapers are explosive – they create new enemies,” Shadia told the FT. “People always talk about the Americans – but the attacks on the twin towers also meant personal destruction for us Saudis.”

They also showcased their piece “Negative no More,” a tableau showing a woman wearing an abaya stitched together from old photographic negatives.

“Saudi women are not as they are presented in the media,” Shadia said. “They are not oppressed by the men – they are supported by them. You are more pampered as a woman in Saudi than in France where you have to shop for your own groceries.”

Shadia and Raja are now in their late thirties and have received awards for their achievements in art and literature.

Raja recently won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction for her novel The Dove’s Necklace. Meanwhile, Shadia was awarded the Utopia prize on one of her paintings during a British Airways exhibition. The painting was chosen to represent Saudi Arabia on the tailfins of some British Airways Aircraft.

From a country that boasts fewer than 10 commercial art galleries, the Alem Sisters and their endearing artistic achievements are a step towards Saudi innovation.

The Venice Biennale will be open to the public June 4 until November 27. The Saudi offering proves to be quite intriguing; a window onto the oil-rich Kingdom and the Islamic culture is captured in art that requires deep thought to process.

Unmasking layers of an abstract black is a tough job, but the Alem Sisters have done it.

(Eman El-Shenawi, a writer at Al Arabiya English, can be reached at: [email protected].)