Dana Awartani - artist

Dana Awartani (Arabic: دانا عورتاني; born 1987) is a Saudi visual artist, of Palestinian ethnicity.  She works in various mediums including painting, video art, and sand mosaic; and incorporates traditional methods of Islamic art. Awartani was born and raised in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where she lives today.

Awartani employs a variety of media in her work, including painting, video and sand mosaics. Her work is unique in that it seeks to incorporate the traditional methods of Islamic art into a contemporary world.  Rich in geometric patterning and the most intricate of details, Dana’s work often integrates the patterning styles of Islamic art.  

Specializing in geometry as well as illumination, tile-work and parquetry, Awartani's work explores the relationship between geometry and nature, as well as how truths can be translated through art using geometric principles, visualizing a sacred language through a symbolic and multi-layered aesthetic. 

Her method that emerged over 1,000 years ago as a substitute for the forbidden depiction of divine figures. It is still being practiced, although less and less, today, by specialists such as Dana.