Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde Dubai presents Manal Al Dowayan in London
6 hours ago
Muhammad Yusuf,
Features Writer
Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde, Dubai, has presented Saudi artist Manal Al Dowayan’s first solo exhibition in London titled The Eternal Return of the Same (June 2 – 9) at Cromwell Place, with the support of Abu Dhabi Art and the Department for Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi.
The exhibition introduced some of the key works that will be part of the artist’s solo show in Dubai in November. The works not only deepen Al Dowayan’s nuanced interrogation of women’s shifting status within a metamorphosing Saudi society, but also intensifies her exploration of new material. A nod to Nietzsche’s concept of eternal recurrence, the title captures gestures of repetition and iteration undergirding the works. While the exhibition may have provided a moment of reflection on the need for reckoning, it also bears Al Dowayan’s hallmark critical assessment of a world rife with inequity and uncertainty.