Oasis of Stories
Manal AlDowayan
Location: AlUla
The exhibition displays hundreds of drawings gathered from communities across AlUla through participatory workshops between September and November 2023, where over 700 participants—teachers, farmers, cooks, rangers, tour guides, artists, craftspeople, students, junior football teams and a disability association—were asked to draw their personal stories onto paper.
Curated by Iwona Blazwick, Lead Curator for Wadi AlFann, the exhibition marks a milestone in the development of AlDowayan’s permanent large-scale desert installation for Wadi AlFann, titled Oasis of Stories, which takes inspiration from the walls of AlUla’s Old Town and will invite viewers to walk through its labyrinth-like passages.
The depictions in the exhibited works range from participant’s homes, neighbourhoods, memories, and family histories to flora, fauna, culinary customs, and abstract creative expressions, with each piece reflecting the lives, cultures, and identities of the people of AlUla.
By collaborating with a wide range of ages, genders, professions, perspectives, and backgrounds, AlDowayan aims to unearth a diverse multitude of narratives, both historic and contemporary. These drawings and stories will eventually be inscribed into the walls of Oasis of Stories, expected to be completed in late 2026, allowing AlUla’s residents to leave behind traces of their inner and outer lives.
