Songs from the shore
Palm leaves, reused fishing nets and video
Installation, variable sizes.
Songs from the Shore is an artwork sent from Saudi Arabia to Japan. A letter of hope and connection. Fishing economies have been part of the Arabian Gulf history since...
Songs from the Shore is an artwork sent from Saudi Arabia to Japan. A letter of hope and connection. Fishing economies have been part of the Arabian Gulf history since the Dilmun civilization that existed from the third millennium bce. Trading in luminous pearls and dates across continents, reaching India and parts of Africa. During the 20 th century, before oil was discovered, almost all countries including Saudi Arabia were involved in maritime activities, both in the sea and on the shore. Alongside the pearling industry grew the most musical culture in the history of the Gulf. Every boat had as part of the crew a professional musician. Creating and spreading beautiful poetry and sounds to help the sailors through the months away in the sea. This musical culture also had a huge impact on the communities living on the shores, more specifically among the large community of women who did not go out to the sea and instead waited for their family and loved ones to return every year. Women on the shores created their own rituals and songs, always speaking to the sea and asking the sea to return their sons and husbands. Part of that ritual was the burning of the palm leaf and extinguishing it in the waters. It follows an old way of healing wounds by burning the skin to stop the bleeding or to burn parts of the body to purify it from fevers or sickness (cauterizing). The women on the shores burned the sea water with the hopes of purifying the waters and ensuring it keeps their beloved sailors safe. The artwork has the form of a frame that focuses the eye towards the view of the sea, the artwork is experienced by walking through a tunnel that carries the traces of a ritual performed by women. There will be a mesh tunnel with 200 baskets suspended in a passage created using recycled fishing nets. The baskets are handmade by a mastercraft woman in the art of “Khos”, palm weaving in Saudi Arabia. The basket edges were burned and then smothered in the sea water, leaving the basket charred at the edges. This was conducted during a participatory session involving the community and residents of the island of Ibuki, Japan. The artwork also includes a video projection of the performance and songs in Arabic performed by the artist and a song in Japanese performed by the women of Ibuki island. In this artwork, Songs from the Shore, I send this ritual performed by my people to the beautiful island of Ibuki in Japan. It is a statement about a shared connection of love and hate that women have had with the sea over the centuries, a connection that today can translate into a concern over climate change and making an urgent gesture to our planet earth, to heal from the damages that humans have created. With our songs and our rituals, we gesture the need to start, then we begin to work for the future. Manal AlDowayan Commissioned by the Setouchi Triennale 2022