The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, often known as Ithra, is hosting the “Amakin” exhibition, which debuted on June 30.
The Jeddah-born exhibition reveals the story behind places that are significant to the artists, “whether it is an actual place or a place in the mind,” according to curator Venetia Porter, and includes the original and archival works of 28 artists from various eras. In fact, the name, which in Arabic is translated as “places,” is a call to artists to investigate places that have special meaning for them personally.
Abdulrahman Al-Soliman, a pioneering author and artist, is one of the featured creators. His Dammam home, which features a room with couches, tall bookcases, and paintings on the walls, served as a gathering place for artists for many years.
He was born in Al-Hassa in 1954, and he has made enormous contributions to Saudi art. Twice a month meetings of artists were held at his home to discuss the art world and collaborate beginning in 2005. He started teaching art in 1974 and has since worked tirelessly to advance art in the nation and the area as a whole. At “Amakin,” he exhibits his mixed-media creations that he refers to as “diaries.”
Al-Balawi photographed locals in North Alkhobar for “Amakin,” capturing the foreigners who have settled there. His images of nearby structures today serve as a historical record of the city’s past and its fortitude before, during, and after the pandemic.
Talib Al-Marri is a Shargiyya artist. He is a self-taught photographer who was born and raised in Alkhobar and went to the Yellow Lake in Al-Hassa at 4:00 in the morning to take pictures of birds in their natural environment.
The lake’s outstanding environmental diversity, which draws birds like the white heron that Al-Marri likes to shoot, has earned it recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. He shoots in black and white because he believes it gives his subjects the authority they really deserve.