Background and career
Manal Al Dowayan (Arabic: منال الضويان Manāl aḍ-Ḍawayān; born 1973) is a Saudi Arabian contemporary artist. She works in photography, sculpture, sound, neon and participatory installation, and much of her work examines the roles and visibility of women in Saudi society.
She represented Saudi Arabia at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024 with Shifting Sands: A Battle Song, a participatory multimedia installation that drew on workshops with about 1,000 Saudi women. Her other works include Now You See Me, Now You Don't (2020), an installation of trampolines set into the desert near AlUla that remains on permanent display, and Suspended Together (2011). She was the visual director of Thikra: Night of Remembering (2025), a dance production with the choreographer Akram Khan.

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