مهند شونو

Artist bio

One way of describing Muhannad Shono’s practice is unpredictable. Indeed, he has transported his audience through lyrical journeys by way of site-specific installations using material such as PVC pipes such as in The Lost Path, 2020 rendering them in the most poetic of expressions on an unimaginable scale, to tackle visceral issues. Other mediums he uses vary from illustrations on paper, sometimes superimposed on photographs, to interactive living sculptures that involve sound and compositions (Names of all Things, 2019), all while exploring video installations like in Al Ashira (2017), collaborating with musicians, 3D printing, using paper to create sculptures (The Last Garden of Al Khidr, 2020), architectural interventions, ink on canvas, explorations in robotics with Al Mars (2018), and the list goes on.

Shono’s common thread lies in his storytelling, often grounded in history and science, he questions socio-political issues, and our impact on the environment. Through fictitious narratives he is able to convey an urgency about censorship, rituals, and how our historical paths and collective choices have led to current events and engrained cultural believes. He offers a revisionist approach to restrictive measures, religious discourses, myths, and the collective’s interpretations of doctrines. The visceral black seen across absolutely all of his work, whether in the use of ink, charcoal, metal, or other, alludes to a world beyond redaction and offers alternatives to what was once obscured by black censoring markers.
Commissions
The Lost Path, Desert X, Al Ula, [2020] , The last garden of Al-Khidr, Saudi Art Council, Jeddah, [2020] , The Caliph Seeks Asylum, Site-Specific Installation for the GAM Sculpture Garden, Torino, Italy [2019] , The Words We Forge, Sculpture commission, Ithra, Dammam, Saudi Arabia [2019] , Searching for contact, From Within, Riyadh, [2019]

Exhibitions
Solos
The Silence Is Still Talking, Athr, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia {2019]
Ala: Ritual Machine, Ithra, Dammam, Saudi Arabia [2018]
Ala: Ritual Machine, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin [2018]
Children of Yam, Athr, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia [2016]

Group
Bridges to Seoul, Seoul, South Korea [2019]
Naphtha, AL Khuzam Historical Palace, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia [2019]
Zamakan, Ithra, Dammam, Saudi Arabia [2019]
Al Obour, Jeddah Saudi Arabia [2019]
Albukhary Foundation Gallery , British Museum, London, [2018]
In The Open Or In Stealth, RAQS Media Collective, MACBA, Barcelona, Spain, [2018]
The Clocks Are Striking Thirteen, Athr gallery, Jeddah, [2018]
UNPUBLISHED – artistic observations, Eawag, Zurich, [2017]
After the Wildly Improbable, HKW Haus der Kulturen der welt, Berlin [2017]
Kunstresidenz, Bad Gastein [2017] 
Own The Walls: LAND, Toronto [2017]
Safar, 21,39, Jeddah Arts, Jeddah[2017]
Loud Art, Emerging GCC Artists, Saudi Arabia / Oman / Bahrain[2015-2016]

Residencies
Kunstresidenz, Bad Gastein, Austria [2017] 
Artist in Labs, Zurich Switzerland [2017]
Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin [2017-2018]

His work is acquired by The British Museum, the Art Jameel Foundation, Al-mansouria Foundation, The Green Box Museum and The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra).