Diriyah contemporary art biennale opens in Riyadh

The third edition of Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale opened in Riyadh with a desert procession through Wadi Hanifah valley.

Running until May 2nd at JAX, near the UNESCO site At-Turaif, it features 68 artists from 37 nations exploring migrations connecting the Arab world globally.

Nigerian-British artist Yussef Agbo-Ola presents "AGBA: 8 Stone Cave," a sacred sculpture honoring ancestral knowledge.

It blends Yoruba concepts with Saudi tradition—Al-Qatt Al-Asiri geometric wall art by women of the Aseer region.

The pavilion references Saudi imagery: Flower Men's herbs, the hawksbill turtle, weaver birds, all built with clay bricks inspired by insect exoskeletons.

"For me, I feel like our ancestors are not just human. You know, a river can be an ancestor, a mountain, a plant. You know, we have all of these ancestors that are always all around us that we can communicate with," said Agbo-Ola.

South African Dineo Seshee Bopape presents an immersive installation exploring wind, migration, and memory.

She references "go fiela mogotha"—sweeping the yard—where women create wave patterns on the ground.

This disappearing practice is shown as a curative act of earth stewardship, featuring works by Noria Mabasa and Andrew Tshabangu.

"The work has references to rain-making practices of Southern Africa, beings that are known to be related to those practices, beings in the celestial skies, and also beings that have incarnated in human forms," Bopape says.