Saudi Gazette report

DHAHRAN — The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) inaugurated its latest exhibition, Horizon in Their Hands: Women Artists from the Arab World (1960s–1980s), on Sept. 18, 2025, at the Ithra Museum in Dhahran.

Organized in collaboration with the Barjeel Art Foundation, a leading UAE-based initiative with one of the largest collections of Arab art, the exhibition features works by 50 pioneering women artists from across the region whose contributions helped shape the modern Arab visual and cultural landscape.

The exhibition includes painting, sculpture, glass, brass, tapestry, ceramics, and mixed media, exploring themes of identity, memory, tradition, and renewal. The works highlight how women artists bridged craft and fine art, embedding personal, cultural, and political narratives into their practice.

Among the featured artists are Saudi pioneers Safeya Binzagr and Mounirah Mosly, Egyptian revolutionary painter Inji Efflatoun, Moroccan icon Chaibia Talal, Palestinian ceramicist Vera Tamari, and contemporary multimedia artist Susan Hefuna. Their works are presented alongside early modernists like Zeinab Abd El Hamid and Safia Farhat, and contemporary figures such as Mariam Al Fakhro and Suad Al-Essa.

Curator Rémi Homs noted that the exhibition “revisits the contributions of women artists who challenged the very definition of art, blurring the boundaries between craft and fine art, and transforming materiality into cultural and political commentary.”

Farah Abushullaih, Head of the Ithra Museum, said the initiative underscores Ithra’s mission “to preserve legacies, amplify diverse voices, and foster cultural dialogue across generations.”