Ayman Zedani

The Keepers (2022) is part of a research project in which Ayman Zedani (*1984, lives and works in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) connects the parasitic behavior of desert plants to modes of societal survival. In his immersive installation, Zedani makes use of multiple elements, including nineteen sculptures inspired by the gulf region plant family Cistanche Tubulosa, reproducing the experience of the plants as they navigate through the uncertain landscape shaped by sand.

Zedani’s investigative practice works to upend our comprehension of the past and challenge our acceptance of the future. His work includes videos, installations and immersive environments that consider the future of the Gulf. His resultant projects are platforms to invite audiences to observe human-nonhuman symbiosis, leaving his narratives open to a multitude of interpretations and questions. The construction and consumption of nature in the Gulf are central to his explorative process, as well as elements of animism and polytheism, themes found in pre- Islamic Arabia, where non-human elements existed in harmony with humans. New materialist philosophies such as the agency of matter and the notion of making kin also feature in his approach in creating new hybrid spaces built on weaving the factual and fictional.

The Keepers have been exhibited at Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden in 2022 as part of Nature and State.