Muhannad Shono

On This Sacred Day

Reclaimed foundry sand and burning palm matter, AlUla, Saudi Arabia, 2022.

For the AlUla Art Residency open studios, Muhannad Shono presents an installation composed of a black structure of reclaimed sand placed amongst the palm trees of Mabiti AlUla’s palm-grove. Made of sand-cast brick segments, this structure becomes a ritualistic catafalque-like structure where palm materials are laid down to rest, and then burned. A journey of plant, ash, smoke and sky, of cycle of death and renewal unfolding inside a living oasis. Amongst the smoke that rises are stories of comings and goings, loss and remembrance.

The burning of trees has also been noted in the oasis as an act of protest against the coming of change, a lament of the losing of the familiar and the familial. Control burns for overgrown and dense or dry vegetation is often necessary in order to prevent uncontrollable wildfires. Thus purposeful change and transformation becomes urgent to safeguard against fires that may seek to burn the world to ash.