This article appeared in Being Muhannad Shono Issue #70 which delves into the world of Saudi artist Muhannad Shono, exploring his creative journey, artistic process, and global impact. Through visuals and an in-depth interview, it highlights Shono’s works that connect personal memory with universal themes. The issue traces his evolution from early creations to monumental installations, revealing a progression driven by curiosity and innovation. This issue celebrates Shono’s global success and his curatorial role in the 2025 Islamic Arts Biennale.
Issue #70 ‘Being Muhannad Shono’
The Teaching Tree 2019
The Teaching Tree exemplifies this thread of connection. This experience highlighted the importance of working within a community and having a wider network of people who could carry on the thread of ideas you’re creating. There’s a limit to what one can achieve alone, and sometimes that limitation becomes apparent more abruptly than expected.
The entire installation originated from a single line of palm, which evolved into a living structure that symbolises a breathing imagination, despite attempts to silence it. It represents a journey and a timeline that captures the younger me, who was told not to imagine or create within a restrictive system. Then, I find myself representing a country in the midst of change, one that is pushing me to the forefront. It was an emotional journey, and understanding it was crucial for me.
I chose traditional materials to deconstruct and reimagine a different kind of tree—not the palm tree that officially represents the country, but something more disruptive. This work reclaims the line as a tool for creation and imagination rather than as a means to cut, redact, or restrict.
As for my use of black, it signifies more than emptiness. For me, it represents the redaction of text we often encountered. In the past, when we bought books, images and words were often censored with black ink. I found this fascinating because the black ink obscuring the content drew my attention to what was being hidden or omitted. It trained my imagination to envision what lay beneath the pigment. My work seeks to disrupt the lived world with the power of imagination, which, for me, is represented by the dense black pigment full of potential.
The National Pavilion of Saudi Arabia at La Biennale di Venezia, curated by Reem Fadda and assistant curator Rotana Shaker, presented The Teaching Tree by Muhannad Shono. Commissioned by the Visual Arts Commission, the installation explored creative resistance and the transformative power of human imagination.
Photo ©️ Artur Weber.
The Teaching Tree is a sculptural installation of palm fronds, pigment, pneumatics, and metal, filling the pavilion like a flowing timeline. It reflects Shono’s reclamation of the drawn line as a symbol of creation and destruction, examining resilience and regeneration in nature and imagination. By questioning singular narratives, Shono explores the potential of writing, thought, and mark-making as acts of creative agency. His work challenges traditional concepts of self, mythology, and the natural world, navigating cycles of birth, death, destruction, and renewal.
Shono describes imagination as an infinite resource: “It passes from the non-existent within our minds, manifesting into reality.” Curator Reem Fadda adds that The Teaching Tree encapsulates the drawn line overgrown, symbolising the irreversible effects of written words and marks on history.
Nat Muller’s essay, Monstrous Fabulation, ties the work to the concept of the “monster”—a metaphor for cultural anxieties during times of transition. As we face global crises, the monster becomes a figure that disrupts and challenges our perceptions, while simultaneously offering new imaginative possibilities. Through this powerful metaphor, Shono’s work asks us to confront the darkness of the world and explore the potential for regeneration and creative change.
