‘‘How can I decolonise my own education and everything I learned in artmaking? How can I erase this Western superiority over Eastern culture and develop my own language based on my traditions and culture?’’
Introducing the ArtReview Podcast, where artists, thinkers and cultural figures are invited to choose three works as lenses through which to examine their practice and explore critical issues impacting the contemporary art world.
In our inaugural episode, artist Dana Awartani speaks to ArtReview editor-in-chief Mark Rappolt about craft, cultural destruction in the Middle East and representing Saudi Arabia at the 2026 Venice Biennale.
Listen now on Spotify and YouTube. New episodes drop every fortnight. All of the works referenced in this podcast can be viewed below.
About Dana Awartani
Dana Awartani is a Saudi-Palestinian artist living between New York and Jeddah whose practice addresses themes of colonial violence, the preservation of craft and the destruction of cultural heritage. She works in mediums including painting, installation, video and mosaic, and is known for incorporating traditional Islamic arts and crafts techniques into her practice. Her exhibition Standing by the Ruins recently showed at Towner gallery in Eastbourne, UK, following a run at the Arnolfini in Bristol. Come May, Awartani will represent Saudi Arabia at the 2026 Venice Biennale.
Credits
Interviewer: Mark Rappolt
Host and producer: Chiara Wilkinson @chiarawilkinson
Audio editor: Charlie Duffield
Music design: Iona Smith @ic_yonic
Works mentioned, in order of reference
• Dana Awartani, Standing by the Ruins III, 2025
• Edward Said, Orientalism, 1978
• Ai Weiwei, Sunflower Seeds, 2010. Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, London
• Let me mend your broken bones, Dana Awartani, 2023. From the Come let me heal your wounds series
