A D.I.Y. Art Installation Reimagines Urban Repair in Riyadh

A small building in northern Riyadh is slowly being restored by hand. Surrounded by rising towers and constant construction, the site is the centre of an ongoing project led by Saudi artist and curator Meshal Al-Obaidallah and self-taught handyman Joseph Vadakkumchery. Since 2021, the two have been working on 'D.I.Y. (Do It, Yousef)', a collaborative initiative that centers urban repair as both a creative process and civic act.

“In today’s changing urban landscape of Riyadh, I view repair and maintenance as acts of preservation and discourse," Al-Obaidallah explained. “I focus on ‘collective amnesia’ - that which is deliberately forgotten in Saudi Arabia.”

Over time, the personal initiative grew into a layered, community-centered transmedia installation. Livestreams now run alongside hand-posted flyers, found objects and improvised repairs. A dedicated phone line takes public inquiries, while an Instagram account tracks the day-to-day work. In the neighbourhood, passersby often pause to offer tools, share a story, or lend advice - small gestures that turn maintenance into a shared communal goal rather than a solitary task.

“It is rewarding to see what started as a pet project, between me and Meshal, to organically grow into a community project,” said Vadakkumchery.

Contributors include architect Abeer Seikaly, designer Majed Alyousef, and cultural entrepreneur Rami Farook. They approach urban repair as a way to preserve traces of the past.

Al-Obaidallah’s work centres on cultural memory in Saudi Arabia. His previous projects include 'ṣiyāḡah' at KAFD, the online archive 'FarewellArabia.com', and the video-based preservation series 'IMG_0220'. Joseph, also known as Yousef, is a long-time Riyadh resident and self-taught contractor whose practice bridges manual labour and quiet observation. Their collaboration was recently recognised with a 2025 Production Award from Culture Resource, a non-profit organisation that supports creatives in the Arab region.

A preview of 'D.I.Y. (Do It, Yousef)' was exhibited during Art Week Riyadh at JAX District. The full installation is scheduled to debut in 2026.