Hawar Resort By Mantis
Bahrain
Hawar Island Resort is a destination shaped by sea, sand, and quiet Bahraini elegance—set within one of the region’s most delicate ecological sanctuaries. The islands sit on a major migration path for nearly 300 bird species, including several endangered ones, making Hawar a haven where nature arrives, rests, and renews itself. XOC was commissioned to curate and integrate a collection of artworks across the resort that echo this rare setting: works that feel native to the island rather than imported onto it. From arrival to shoreline, the pieces draw on local material culture, coastal rhythms, and contemporary Gulf craft, creating a visual language of calm discovery. The result is an environment where art isn’t decoration; it’s part of how the place welcomes, orients, and stays with you.
Outdoor Installations
Outdoors, the collection is designed to meet guests in motion—at entrances, along pathways, and beside the waterline. Sculptural moments echo the island’s natural forms and the geometry of local architecture, while subtle interventions invite pause without demanding attention. Placed against palm groves, bright courtyards, and open sea views, each work anchors the landscape with a sense of continuity: contemporary, but unmistakably of Hawar.
Art Installations
Across Hawar Island Resort, art is treated as part of the architecture of experience — not an add-on. We curated a collection that moves between contemporary form and Bahraini material memory, using texture, shadow, and scale to create quiet moments of discovery throughout the guest journey.
Hand-woven elements, palm-fiber baskets, pearling references, and coastal motifs reappear in different languages: a flock of wall-mounted forms that feels almost in motion; layered textiles that soften and warm modern interiors; crafted objects that ground spaces in the island’s rhythms. The result is a cohesive visual thread — subtle, tactile, and unmistakably local — woven into the resort’s everyday life.
