The Valley of the Desert Keepers (2022) is an amplification of the research topic Zedani has been exploring for the past couple of years in relation to parasitic plants in the Arabian desert. These families of plants rely on horizontal gene transfer by which they acquire the genes of host plants to ensure the survival of their offspring. They contain an archive of the desert history and the keys to livable futures.
The installation is situated in a valley that is covered with ringing rocks which is one of the layers that influenced the direction of the project. Another layer is a tree close to an opening in the site that slowly became the host plant of the project. A third layer is the parasitic plant family Cistanche tubulosa which can be found in abundance closer to the tombs of Hegra during rainy seasons.
This was part of Desert X AlUla 2022.