Photo: Marilyn Clark
Muhannad Shono (Riyadh, 1977) is a Saudi artist raised amid questions of origin and belonging. His practice is driven by a sustained inquiry into narrative and the systems of thought that bind human perception into rigid, singular doctrines. He examines how social and ideological constructs harden into uncompromising mono‑narratives—structures that confine meaning and restrict multiplicity.
Shono’s early relationship to storytelling was shaped by books subjected to the unwelcome collaboration between author and censor: words were redacted, images obscured—narratives interrupted. Yet these voids did not silence him; they compelled engagement with what was withheld. Blackened marks, meant to suppress, instead became generative liminal thresholds from which new worlds could emerge, fragment, and multiply. Absence became the seed of endless new stories.
This encounter with concealment informs his artistic thinking. For Shono, the mark, the line, and the void are not gestures of negation but instruments of renewal. Reclaimed, they dismantle rigid frameworks and cultivate landscapes where dormant meanings are exhumed, harvested, and unearthed amid a deliberate embrace of entropy—a fertile turbulence before new form.
His practice is rooted in a palimpsest of continual change, poised on the line between memory and imagined futures. Form, sense, and narrative remain infinite, timeless yet timely—mindful of the mortality of the past and the boundless endurance of the imagination.
Raised in Saudi Arabia by Circassian migrant parents, Shono learned early that belonging can be provisional, its borders shifting with each document and language. “Natural,” for Shono, is a working fiction challenged through a multidisciplinary practice where form, medium, and narrative interlace. Operating in the liminal zone between raw matter and industrial vocabularies, he develops hybrid techniques and grafted vocabularies that unsettle any claim to fixed essence, asserting an authenticity found only in continual re‑formation.
His work invites viewers into liminal spaces of fracture, revision, and indeterminacy—sites where stories remain unsettled and meaning resists definition.
EDICATION
2000 — King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, B.A in Architecture
SOLO
2024 — The Ground Day Breaks curated by Nat Muller ATHR Gallery, Riyadh
2019 — The Silence Is Still Talking, curated by Rahul Gudipudi, Athr gallery, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2016 — Children of Yam, Athr, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
BIENNALE
2025 — Contemporary Art Curator of the 2nd ediKon of the Islamic Arts Biennale, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2023 — Letters in Light (Lines we Write), The Islamic Arts Biennale, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2022 — The Teaching Tree, The National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia, la Biennale di Venezia. Curated by Reem Fadda
2022 — After the Fall, 6th edition of the Lyon Biennale, Lyon, France
2021 — On Losing Meaning, Diriyah Biennale, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2020 — Return to the Infinite, Bienalsur, Riyadh, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Curated by Diana Wechsler
PUBLIC INSTALLATION COMMISSION
2022 — I see you brightest in the dark, Bait Al Malaz, Noor Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2022 — A Song of Silence, Parcours Curated by Samuel Leuenberger, Art Basel, Switzerland
2022 — On This Sacred Day, Manifesto Art residency, Yvannoe Kruger, AlUla, Saudi Arabia
2021 — The Mind Ship Exodus, Noor Festival, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
EXHIBITION
2025 — Pavilion of the Imagination, National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia, Expo 2025, Osaka, Japan
2025 — What Remains, Desert X, Coachella Valley, CA, USA
2024 — A Forgotten Place, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai
2023 — And to Flounder in This Sea Is Sweet to Me, Sea Art Festival, Busan, South Korea
2023 — The Unseen, Louvre Abu Dhabi, UAE
2022 — I See You Brightest in the Dark, Noor Riyadh Festival, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2022 — A Song of Silence, commission for Parcours Art Basel
2022 — On This Sacred Day, AlUla, Saudi Arabia
2020 — The Last Garden of Al-Khidr, I Love You Urgently 2139, Jeddah, curated by Maya El Khalil
2020 — The Lost Path, Desert X, Al Ula, curated by Raneem Farsi, Aya Aliriza & Neville Wakefield
2019 — Streams Dreams and Flow States, Naphtha, AL Khuzam Historical Palace, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2019 — The Caliph Seeks Asylum, Site-Specific Installation for the GAM Sculpture Garden, Torino, Italy
2019 — Spiritual * digital, Kunstverein Wolfsburg, Germany
2018 — Ala: Ritual Machine, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany
2018 — Albukhary Foundation Gallery , British Museum, London, curated by Venetia Porter
2018 — In The Open Or In Stealth, curated by RAQS Media Collective, MACBA, Barcelona, Spain
2018 — Al AShirah, The Clocks Are Striking Thirteen, Athr gallery, Jeddah
2017 — Living Ideas, UNPUBLISHED – artistic observations, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Zurich
2017 — After the Wildly Improbable, HKW Haus der Kulturen der welt, Berlin, curated by Adania Shibli
2017 — Kunstresidenz, Bad Gastein
2017 — The Fifth Sun, Safar, 21,39, Jeddah Arts, Jeddah , curated by Sam Bardaouil & Till Fellrath
COLLECTIONS
The Silent press, Center De Pompidou, Paris, France
Approaching Stillness, The Black Gold Museum, Riyadh
The Wall, The British Museum, London, UK
The Book of Al, The Art Jameel Foundation, Dubai, UAE
PRESS
2025 — Expo Osaka & Desert X Coachella
Selections Arts Magazine — "Being Muhannad Shono: Absent Sky," 2025 — [link]
Arab News — "Muhannad Shono: 'This Work is Fragile. It is Not Here Forever,'" 2025 (direct interview) — [ link ]
Wallpaper* — "Desert X 2025 Review: A New American Dream Grows in the Coachella Valley," 2025 — [ link ]
Artnet News — "Desert X Descends on Coachella Valley. Here Are 5 Awe-Inspiring Works," 2025 (Shono featured) — [ link ]
ArtReview — "Desert X 2025 Review: Morale Failure," Jenny Wu, 2025 — [ link ]
2024 — A Forgotten Place, Alserkal (Dubai)
Lampoon Magazine — "Hyperlocal Installations Produced with CO2 in Mind – A Feral Commons (or: A Forgotten Place)," 2024 (focused Shono feature) — [ link ]
e-flux — "Muhannad Shono on Ecology, Architecture and Narrative Imagination," 2024 — [ link ]
Kehrer Verlag — "Muhannad Shono: Works [2014–2024]" (monograph), 2024 — [ link ]
2023 — Sea Art Festival Busan, Louvre Abu Dhabi & profile features
Canvas — "Conversations with Water: Sea Art Festival 2023," 2023 — [ link ]
The Art Newspaper — "Letters of Light: Joining the Threads Through the Written Word," 2023 — [ link ]
Arab News — "Louvre Abu Dhabi Showcases Abrahamic Manuscripts in 'Letters of Light' Exhibition," 2023 — [ link ]
The National — "Saudi Artist Muhannad Shono and the Compassion of Creativity," 2023 — [ link ]
Sculpture Magazine — "From the Imagined World: A Conversation with Muhannad Shono," 2023 — [ link ]
e-flux — "Muhannad Shono in Conversation with Reem Fadda" (Venice Biennale catalogue release), 2023 — [ link ]
Arab News — "Saudi Conceptual Artist Muhannad Shono Breaks Down Some of His Most Significant Works," 2023 — [ link ]
2022 — Venice Biennale & Echoes
The National — "Saudi Arabia's Muhannad Shono introduces his 'monster' at the Venice Biennale," 2022 — [ link ]
Gulf News — "Stunning opening for Saudi pavilion at Venice Biennale," 2022 — [ link ]
Designboom — "Saudi Arabia Pavilion Presents 40-Meter-Long Palm Frond Installation at Venice Art Biennale," 2022 — [ link ]
The Art Newspaper — "Saudi Arabian Pavilion: Exhibition Rings the Changes," 2022 — [ link ]
e-flux — "Muhannad Shono: The Teaching Tree," 2022 — [ link ]
Arab News — "Artist Muhannad Shono Expresses Saudi's 'Brave Creative Spirit' at 59th Venice Biennale," 2022 — [ link]
The National — "How the Arab World is Represented at Venice Biennale 2022," 2022 — [ link ]
Arte.it — "Padiglione Saudita, 59. Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte – La Biennale di Venezia: Muhannad Shono. The Teaching Tree," 2022 — [ link ]
Arab News — "Local Artist to Reflect Saudi Arabia's Evolving Creative Scene at Venice Biennale," 2022 — [ link ]
Artforum — "Echoes: A World Between the Analogue and the Virtual," Rahel Aima, Print May 2022 — [ link ]
2021 — AlUla Residency, BIENALSUR, Noor Riyadh
KAWA News — "The Works Created by These Artists in AlUla's First Art Residence Will Surprise You!," 2021 — [ link ]
BIENALSUR — "Echoes: A World Between the Analogue and the Virtual," 2021 — [ link ]
ARTnews — "Saudi Arabia's AlUla, Aspiring Cultural Destination, Launches First Artist Residency," 2021 — [ link ]
The National — "AlUla Oasis: Six Artists to Visually Transform the Cultural Site in Saudi Arabia," 2021 — [ link ]
"Riyadh Lights Up With Citywide Art Festival," 2021 — [URL TBC]
2020 — Desert X AlUla & Maan Grant
Artnet News — "'I Am Not Part of Some Propaganda Machine': Artists and Curators Defend Their Participation in the Saudi-Backed Show Desert X AlUla," 2020 — [ link ]
The Desert Sun — "For Desert X AlUla Artists, 'It Was Important to Be Heard' at Controversial Exhibition," 2020 — [URL TBC]
The New York Times — "Art Rises in the Saudi Desert, Shadowed by Politics," 2020 — [URL TBC]
Harper's Bazaar Arabia — "An Extraordinary Exhibition Launches in Saudi Arabia's AlUla Region," 2020 — [ link ]
Khaleejesque, March 2020 — [ link ]
Wall Street Journal — "Saudi Arabia's Secret Plans to Unveil Its Hidden da Vinci—and Become an Art-World Heavyweight," 2020 — [URL TBC]
The National — "Maan Grant: Saudi Artists to Sell Works to Support Other Creatives in the Kingdom," 2020 — [ link ]
Arab News — "Saudi Video Art Exhibition Offers New Ways of Seeing Present Times," 2020 — [ link ]
2019
Arte.it — "Muhannad Shono. The Caliph Seeks Asylum (Il Califfo cerca Asilo), 2019" — [ link ]
Harper's Bazaar Arabia — "Beyond Words: Saudi Artist Muhannad Shono Creates New Language Through His Conceptual Art," Rebecca Anne Proctor, 2019 — [ link ]
Harper's Bazaar Arabia — "Muhannad Shono Explores Displacement and Migration in Latest Exhibition," 2019 — [ link ]
Arab News — "Highlights from 'The Silence is Still Talking,' Showing at Jeddah's Athr Gallery," 2019 — [ link ]
2018
Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington (AGSIW) — "Muhannad Shono: Creating His Own Saudi Narrative," Marwa Fakih, 2018 — [ link ]
The Independent — "How Saudi Artists Are Capturing the Spirit of a Kingdom in the Process of Radical Reform," David Lister, 2018 — [URL TBC]
2017
Saudi Gazette — "Art Talk With Muhannad Shono," Mariam Nihal, 2017 — [ link ]