“DIALOGUES”, the third art exhibition by the Saudiaat Art Group was officially opened Monday at the Al-Alamiah Gallery in Jeddah. My first reaction to seeing the word “Saudiaat” was that it was a mis-print and that it was meant to be “Saudiart”. Not so. Samiah Khashoggi, the founder of “Saudiaat” put me straight. “Lots of people make the mistake of thinking it should be “SaudiaRt,” she told me, “but in Arabic, “Saudia” is the singular of “Saudi woman”, and “Saudiaat” is the plural. So it means “Saudi Women”.” Khashoggi founded the art group as a result of her thesis for her MA studies in Fine Art in 2005. Her work was entitled “The Development of Saudi Women's Art Movement in the 20th-21st Century” and required that she organize an exhibition showing the work of 10 women artists. Once that was over, it was a natural progression to keep these women together by establishing an ongoing art group. Although Khashoggi, now 50, was born in the conservative area of Abha, she says: “I had quite an unusual educational background for a Saudi girl of that era. It was the same for a lot of the elite families who moved out of Saudi Arabia to give their daughters a good education because, at that time, Saudi Arabia's education system was very limited.” After a primary education in Riyadh, where her father was working, the family moved to Lebanon. She attended the American School in Beirut, and a few years later, they moved on to London. She continued her education there up to “A” Level, and then went on to do a one year art foundation course at Middlesex University before enrolling in a three year BA Honours degree course in Interior Design at the University of Kingston upon Thames in south-west London. With her degree in hand, she returned to Jeddah. “I got a job in my brother's furniture and design company. Otherwise I would have gone freelance, because none of the other design companies would have hired a woman. I took care of the women clients, and it was a really good experience for two years.” Her love of painting had always been there alongside her interior design work and she took art classes with some of the excellent expatriate women artists living in Jeddah: Dorothy Boyer, Martina Stevens and Susan Elliot. “I really like my paintings when I see them, but you need the encouragement. I really benefited from all the courses – these expatriate artists were so generous with their giving.” “I like to use acrylic. I also add inks, and felt pens, because I am in love with drawing. I think it is such an expressive technique. When I paint, I go into a sort of trance. I lose myself in it and am not aware of what I am doing. If my daughter asks me how I did something, I can't remember. I like to work completely alone, with no one in the room.” Throughout her time overseas, Khashoggi never lost touch with her conservative roots; her religion and Islamic symbolism features strongly in her art. She reflected on her thoughts when she was establishing the “Saudiaat Art Group”: “I wanted an identity for my art. Through our group we could reflect current issues. All my work was European, but there was no Saudi identity there. Doing my Masters really confirmed that and revealed to me what I wanted to be as an artist. I wanted to reflect my Saudi identity, culture, my religion and how happy I am with it. When 9/11 happened, it hurt my heart so much that I said: This is my goal. I want to correct that stereotyped image that Muslims are terrorists. We are not. And also that we are the poor Saudi ladies who have to cover ourselves and live under the veil. The veil was freedom for us – it is, for a lot of us. You don't have to put it on. It is an identity.” Khashoggi went on to reflect on the interwoven themes of culture and religion. “They are so interwoven and we have to ask: ‘Is this religion, or is it culture?' Unless you go for Islamic studies, you don't know where it starts and where it ends. Islam teaches us how to live, right down to little details of daily life. And yet, when I had an Australian nanny in Beirut, she taught us some of the same things, for example about eating, but she was not Muslim.” In her painting, her political views are mostly about the impact politics has on women. “Politics for me equals education, social issues, cultural issues, religious issues – the impact of all these on Saudi women. And the impact of anything that we live in, whether it is the environment, or the beautiful landscape, the globalization issues, the internet. There is no way you can isolate yourself anymore. There is a bombardment of thoughts and ideas, no one can stop it any more. How can I protect my own identity and culture amongst a very fast growing global world.” Most of her paintings are of women, but they have no facial features; some just have one eye, but no mouth. “This is not because we don't have a right to speak, or that we don't see enough. It is just going abstract, and the faceless ladies started with the religious restriction on figurative representation and the prohibition of that in Islam. I am not really sure about this; I do portraits, but when I do full figures, I have to miss something out, so it is not complete. I like them being faceless because once I put a face to that, it becomes someone, and I am not talking about someone – I am talking generally about women.” She uses swirling ribbons, items that are always connected with the feminine, and calligraphy, and crescent moons. “The swirling ribbons represent movement and that illustrates that women are not restricted. If you look at the movement, you can see that she is dancing. She is also holding the ancient musical instrument, the tar. Symbolically, I am just saying that music and dancing are culturally acceptable, as long as they are done amongst women.” Khashoggi also uses themes from her roots, from Abha, in her work to highlight how proud she is of the region she comes from. This 3rd Saudiaat Art Group has criteria for membership, and a set of objectives. One of the criteria is that you have to be Saudi. Having gained so much from expatriate artists in Saudi Arabia, Khashoggi felt that by only having Saudi women in Saudiaat they were excluding a very important aspect of local artists. She then introduced an associate group, “Friends of Saudiaat”: they can be any age, any nationality and use any art form. Their work is also in this exhibition. Khashoggi is currently the Program Director of the Interior Design Department at Dar Al Hekma College in Jeddah. The paintings in the exhibition are for sale. It runs from Tuesday 21st October until 30th October at the Al Alamiah Gallery. Timings are: 10.00 am – 1 pm; 5.30 P.M. to 10 P.M. __
