At first glance, a collection of drawings, a sculptural structure and a series of water fountains may appear to be radically divergent entries within a gathering of contemporary art such as the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale. Yet, these disparate works – each a special commission – are united by a shared curiosity: an exploration of what it means to inhabit a place and participate in the cycles that sustain life, both natural and man-made.
Iraqi artist Rand Abdul Jabbar, who lives in the UAE, presents A Tale Before the Deluge, which transcends the boundaries of history and mythology in pursuit of a more anthropocentric understanding of heritage. The installation comprises charcoal and clay drawings on linen, stretched over traditional wooden mud-brick moulds, linking an ancient legacy shared by cultures across the world – the use of the most elemental materials and tools to build, mark and create.
“For thousands of years, we have mixed mud and water and laid things under the sun to dry, to make a mark on the world we live in,” says Jabbar. “Thinking about those materials – and our relationships to bodies of water – prompted me to reflect on one of the most famed stories, the Great Flood. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the earliest known account of the flood, the hero seeks eternal life and encounters Utnapishtim, who survived the deluge. He explains that while we cannot live forever, we can endure through the legacy we leave behind. This work reflects on that idea of remembrance. If everything is washed away, what do we choose to hold on to?”
The imagery in Jabbar’s drawings is drawn from more than a decade of research, weaving together depictions of craft, heritage and archaeology with personal and political histories. She also references symbolic sites from the Epic of Gilgamesh – the date grove, the clay pit, the temple and the city – which, for her, embody the totality of life, from sustenance and transformation to civics and spirituality. Stark charcoal lines are overlaid with swirling clay patterns, guiding the eye from one panel to the next and visually binding the fragments into a single, contiguous whole.
“I’m trying to evoke the flow of time and the cycles of history,” Jabbar explains. “When you look to the past, you realise it is always finding ways to return. These elements persist through practice, retelling, transformation and transmission.”
A sculptural commission by Nigerian-American artist Abe Odedina Agbo-Ola, titled Agba: 8 Stone Cave, similarly centres the human experience, but from a different vantage point. Agbo-Ola seeks to reaffirm our intrinsic – and often obscured – ties to the natural world through experiential architecture, informed by aspects of his Yoruba and Cherokee heritage.
“This work is a place for reflection and contemplation – a sacred structure meant to connect us to our ancestors,” says Agbo-Ola. “That includes not only humans, but also plants and animals. The more we can visualise the unseen, the closer and more connected we become to our environment.”
“There are deep layers of meaning running through the structure,” he adds, “but they all return to the idea that everything is connected – the micro and the macro; the living and the dead – and that we must honour what we cannot see.”
Constructed from moulded clay bricks inspired by various forms of flora and fauna, the outdoor work stands in dialogue with the sky and sun. By channelling wind and casting shadows that shift with changing environmental conditions, the piece becomes a living collaboration with nature. Inside, colourful fabric “skins” reference traditional Akwete geometric patterns, representing endangered species and forming interconnected textile forms reminiscent of spiders’ webs and microbial networks found within forest floors.
The physical structure is accompanied by an immersive audio composition featuring shamanic practitioners playing traditional African instruments, including the moringa and balafon, which are used ritually to invoke natural phenomena such as rain. These sounds are combined with recordings from geological sensors and frequencies known to elicit physiological responses in plants, creating a meditative soundscape that deepens the work’s contemplative intent.
In contrast, shifting from the metaphysical to the pragmatic, The Source by Argentine visual artist and spatial designer Augustina Woodgate presents fully functional drinking water infrastructure. Comprising three large-scale polished limestone installations – produced on site in Jax District with the assistance of more than 50 local masonry workers – each incorporates a working fountain and is designed to prompt discussion around resource distribution and public space.
The installations draw inspiration from aerial views of the desert, referencing the circular geometry of centre-pivot irrigation systems. Each circle also functions as an infographic, embedding data related to water in the region, including desalination volumes, the costs of transportation versus leakage and rates of extraction compared with aquifer recharge times. Rather than concealing the mechanics, the pipes and storage tanks that enable the fountains are deliberately left exposed.
“I like the idea that people aren’t quite sure whether this is art or not,” says Woodgate. “The invitation to drink is real. When we use a water fountain, we rarely think about where the water comes from – it simply appears. If this were only art, people might be afraid to touch it or sit on it. Using local stone was essential for that ambiguity. The entire city is built from this material, so the work looks like it belongs here. Is it art, or is it a civic amenity? In that tension, it becomes a commentary on itself.”
