Doha Ghouth Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Red Sea Mall bustled with young contestants racing to finish their free styled pieces in 5 days for Al Hosna 99 contest, expressing themselves with their hands, paintbrushes, or spray paint. The Arabic calligraphy pieces were later showcased for people to appreciate. Artist Fatimah Baazeem's group, “Affect and Be Affected,” was sponsored by Red Sea Mall to hold the Hosna 99 contest. The mall dedicated 1,500 meters of space for nearly 300 contestants. The winners will be announced on the 6th of Ramadan. “Al Hosna 99 is another way of reminding young people of the beauty we have in our Islamic culture and how sailing into its beauty makes you appreciate its uniqueness more and more” said Baazeem. Al Hosna 99 was a shopper stopper, as people stopped and watched these amazing talents. One bystander who claimed to have visited the mall to watch the contestants five days in a row said, “I watched my way into a creative world that was thought to be beyond anyone's reach, giving me hope that you just have to have an imagination and make it run wild.” Children were encouraged to join the contest while shopping with parents and were the highlight of the contest. Red Sea Mall's CEO, Mohammed Al Alawi, said the mall hosts such events out of its social responsibility toward the country's youth and to help them to discover their hidden talents. “We also have a social responsibility toward everyone's taste in art which is why we try to elevate it by presenting different kinds of art all the while creating master pieces of the mall's grounds” said Al Alawi. Workshops on the basics of Arabic calligraphy were conducted by calligrapher Ibrahim Al Arafy who was supervised by Tarik Gazzaz and Nahar Marzoogi.
