The King and Queen of Jordan expressed their joy on X. King Abduallah stated the arrival of his granddaughter has “enlightened the family.”
الحمد لله الذي وهبنا حفيدتنا الأولى إيمان بنت الحسين. أبارك للحسين ورجوة العزيزين مولودتهما. نسأل الله أن ينبتها نباتا حسنا ويحفظها لوالديها. نورتي عيلتنا جدو
Jordan’s constitution dictates that the throne passes to male heirs, so Crown Prince Hussein and Princess Rajwa’s child will enter the line of succession to the throne. Since the baby is a girl, there will be no change to the line of succession. Crown Prince Hussein is heir to the throne and is currently followed by his brother Prince Hashem.
The royal family’s new addition will receive the titles of Her Royal Highness and princess.
The Royal Hashemite Court is pleased to announce that Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II and Princess Rajwa Al Hussein are expecting their first baby this summer
Princess Rajwa, who celebrated her 30th birthday in April, is the daughter of late Saudi businessman Khalid bin Musaed bin Saif bin Abdulaziz Al-Saif, who died in January this year, and his wife, Azza bint Nayef Abdulaziz Ahmad Al-Sudairi.
She is the youngest of four children — her older siblings are called Faisal, Nayef and Dana.
The princess’s mother comes from the prominent Al-Sudairi family. Incidentally, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman is one of the so-called “Sudairi Seven,” an influential alliance of seven full brothers born to King Abdulaziz and Hussa bint Ahmed Al-Sudairi.
After graduating from high school in Saudi Arabia, Rajwa studied at Syracuse University’s School of Architecture in New York state. She also holds an Associate of Arts Professional Designation in visual communications from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles.
After a spell working at an architecture firm in Los Angeles, she returned to her native Saudi Arabia to work at the Designlab Experience design studio in Riyadh.
She and the crown prince tied the knot in June 2023 at Zahran Palace in Amman in a ceremony that included dignitaries and royals from around the world, including the UK’s Prince and Princess of Wales William and Kate Middleton; US First Lady Jill Biden; Qatar’s Sheikha Moza bint Nasser and many more.
Riyadh-based UK artist Simon Mortimer delves into Saudi pop culture
Simon Mortimer’s mixed-media works exploring Arabic imagery and language are currently on show in Doha
Updated 06 September 2024
Rebecca Anne Proctor
RIYADH: Inside his apartment in Riyadh, British artist Simon Mortimer experiments with images that explore Saudi Arabia’s current period of transformation. His vibrant creations are filled with references to contemporary Saudi culture through high and low art, with an abundance of Arabic influences.
In one of the artist’s recent works, a realistic painting of a typewriter on light blue, gray and yellow background is encircled by various signs and symbols from everyday Saudi culture, including an evocative Saudi-based multinational Sharbatly fruit label showing a young boy wearing a red hat. At the top of the work is what appears to be a phrase from another advertisement in Arabic, translating to “For those who don’t know.” On the left-hand side of the typewriter, which Mortimer explains represents the idea of communication, is a cartoon-like depiction of a red falcon with its beak nestled ever so slightly on the machine and a small yellow crown over its head.
Simon Mortimer. (Supplied)
Mortimer, currently working in Riyadh as an art teacher, is showing works in a new exhibition at the Media Majlis Museum (mm: museum) at Qatar’s Northwestern University titled “The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” It’s a mixed-media exhibition exploring the Arabic language, its historical and contemporary context and questions surrounding its future existence. It runs until Dec. 5.
Many of Mortimer’s recent works incorporate Arabic writing and the imagery he selects is often repeated throughout his works (the falcon, the Sharbatly logo, coffee pots, and more). He doesn’t speak Arabic, but he says he is “fascinated by the forms of the letters, the culture and the language” and likes to use words with meanings that reflect the subject matter of his pieces.
“I love to explore the popular culture of a place,” he tells Arab News. “You immediately see these interesting images, logos and adverts. I love the visuals and the aesthetics, and I often don’t understand what they mean, especially when the labels are in Arabic, so I go onto Google Translate to get a better sense of the meaning.”
'Learn' by Simon Mortimer. (Supplied)
Mortimer moved to Riyadh around a year ago from Doha, where he lived for five years. In the Qatari capital he was an artist-in-residence at the Fire Station, one of Qatar’s leading contemporary art spaces. He has lived in a number of other countries, including the Philippines, Greece and Spain, and has exhibited his work in the UK, Greece, Indonesia, the Philippines and Qatar.
“I love being a foreigner,” he says. “I love living in different countries and exploring local popular culture. It is interesting whatever country I am in,” explains Mortimer. “Everyday images are combined with text, and the ambiguity that this can lead to reflects the misunderstandings that sometimes arise when living in, or learning about, other countries and cultures.
'No Limits' triptych by Simon Mortimer. (Supplied)
“I enjoy layering and creating texture with a wide range of media, as well as challenging the concept of ‘high’ and ‘low’ art; traditional ways of mark-making such as oil paint and etching are brought together in the same artwork with modern media such as spray paint and marker pen,” he continues.
Mortimer’s creative process involves literal and metaphorical layers. He incorporates images and references from Saudi pop-culture, as well as Arabic script, and then merges them in a mixture of traditional oil painting, acrylic, stencils, photocopies, and spray paint. In essence, Mortimer’s works offer the reflections of a non-Arab on present-day Saudi society, as well as his desire to better understand Saudi contemporary culture.
'Right to Left' by Simon Mortimer. (Supplied)
The new exhibition in Doha invites visitors to explore and celebrate Arabic’s rich history and influence of the Arabic language and to reflect on its place in the future. It revolves around four key themes: “Always another side?” which introduces Arabic and its complexities, challenging negative connotations of the language through beautiful representations; “An influential and powerful language?” exploring how Arabic has shaped politics, science, religion and culture worldwide; “Does media representation matter?” examining the portrayal of Arabic in the media; and the final theme: “Is Arabic a language of the future?” exploring efforts to preserve and protect the language in a world where the ubiquity and dominance of English — particularly in the digital realm, poses challenges.
Mortimer’s works in the show explore these themes from the viewpoint of a non-Arabic speaker. They incorporate images from contemporary Arabian society — particularly drawing from his recent experiences in Saudi and Qatar — and Arabic proverbs to explore language, multiculturalism, and education from the perspective of a non-speaker.
'Round Puff' by Simon Mortimer. (Supplied)
Incorporating local imagery and language into his work allows Mortimer to immerse himself more fully in local culture — and learn something of the language. He says he also learns from, and is inspired by, the Saudi high school students he is teaching.
“They tell me about the cartoons and the sports they watch and introduce me to popular culture in Saudi and discuss the changes taking place in the Kingdom,” he says. “I’ve learned so much through them.”
Highlights from Ahaad Alamoudi’s ‘Moving Mountains’ at Hayy Jameel
Updated 06 September 2024
Arab News
DUBAI: Here are three highlights from Ahaad Alamoudi’s ‘Moving Mountains,’ which runs until Oct. 26 at Hayy Jameel in Jeddah.
‘Moving Mountains’
The title work from the Saudi artist’s exhibition is a short film that “continues Alamoudi’s expansive exploration of rapidly changing social and cultural environments, situating Saudi’s natural and urban landscapes as sites of possibility — punctured by effort and powered by fantasy,” according to the gallery.
‘What is This?’
The latest iteration of Alamoudi’s ongoing video series that features two talking falcons — which have, the gallery says, “in some ways acted as a temperature check as they react loudly to their changing surroundings” — has them facing away from each other on back-to-back screens exclaiming “I don’t remember this being here,” and “Do you see what I see?”
“I Was Told Ice Wouldn’t Melt in Heat”
In this video, a detail of which is shown here, a man in a white thobe circles a large block of ice in the desert for four hours trying various ways to prevent it from melting in the blazing heat. “Although driven by a delusional belief in what he was told, the feat ultimately proves impossible,” the gallery caption states.
Saudi-supported Egyptian film wins big at Venice Film Festival’s Final Cut
Updated 05 September 2024
Arab News
DUBAI: The Red Sea Film Foundation-supported film “Aisha Can’t Fly Away,” the feature debut of Egyptian filmmaker Morad Mostafa, became the first Egyptian film to win the La Biennale di Venezia Prize at Final Cut in Venice on Wednesday.
The award, given for a film in post-production, is worth €5,000 ($5,546).
The film, which got a total of five awards during the festival, tells the story of a Somali woman caring for her elderly parents in Cairo while witnessing the tensions between the different ethnic groups who make up the city’s society.
This year’s jury included Wayne Borg from NEOM, Monica Ciarli from Minerva Pictures, and Dennis Ruh, the former director of the European Film Market.
In their statement, the jury labeled Mostafa’s story “powerful and authentic,” adding: “Despite being a first feature film, it showcased confident direction and a distinct cinematic voice. The film’s gritty realism, attention to detail, and impactful storytelling left a strong impression on us.”
Three other films supported by Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Foundation also won awards at Final Cut: Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Siam’s “My Father’s Scent,” Lebanese director Nadim Tabet’s “In This Darkness I See You” and Mosotho screenwriter and film director Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese’s “Ancestral Visions of the Future.”
Final Cut in Venice offers filmmakers a platform to showcase their works-in-progress to global industry experts, helping with post-production support and market entry.
Beyond Everest — discovering Nepal as a non-trekker
From breathtaking nature to vibrant street life, Nepal is about much more than mountains
Updated 05 September 2024
Shyama Krishna Kumar
DUBAI: Nepal is best known as the entry point to the Himalayas and Mount Everest, but this beautiful country actually provides a host of options for all kinds of travelers — even those with no desire to summit a mountain.
From the bustling streets of Kathmandu and the tranquil lakeside views of Pokhara set against the Himalayas to the nature reserves of Chitwan National Park and the hilltop peace of Bandipur, Nepal is a treasure trove of all things travel — and that’s true whether you’re a backpacker travelling on a budget or a family looking to unwind.
A street in Kathmandu. (Shutterstock) fthaem
Our two-week trip to Nepal began in Kathmandu, and my husband and I opted to stay in the famed Thamel tourist district. Thamel is where you want to be if you love all things food, drinks, art, music and shopping — although it’s a shock to the senses if you’re not used to busy South Asian city life. There are dingy tattoo parlors, storefronts offering rows and rows of beaded jewelry and miscellaneous art, live music blaring from every drinking establishment (and there’s one every five steps you take), and the best street food you’ll ever taste — if you have the stomach for it.
Speaking of food, we ate momos (Nepal dumplings) for breakfast, lunch and dinner because no two places make it the same and they are all great. Shout out also to Thamel House Restaurant for the best traditional Nepali thali (platter) we had during our stay. ,
Thamel, Kathmandu. (Shutterstock)
We also took a day to explore the neighboring town of Patan. Once an independent city-state, it’s now considered a natural extension of Kathmandu. Its main attraction is Darbar Square, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where you will find a collection of ancient Hindu temples and palaces. After exploring the main square, you can head to a nearby rooftop café for beautiful views of the town.
No visit to Kathmandu is complete without a trip to the Swayambhunath Stupa — known locally as The Monkey Temple, for reasons that become immediately apparent when you visit. Be warned: the monkeys will try to steal anything you’re carrying, so they can trade it back to you for food. And these guys are sneaky.
The trek to the stupa involves climbing exactly 365 steps but the sprawling view of Kathmandu from the top, and the tranquil vibe of the temple itself, are well worth the climb.
Our next destination was Pokhara, the gateway to the Annapurna Circuit, a famed trail in the Himalayas, popular with hippies, vagabonds and of course, trekkers of all kinds.
But trekkers we are not. We’d arrived in the beautiful postcard-perfect lakeside town for some well-earned downtime. And some uptime — I decided to get in touch with my mortality with a thrilling paragliding session over the gorgeous Phewa Lake, which brilliantly mirrors the mountains set against it.
Phewa Lake Pokhara. (Shutterstock)
We also spent an unforgettable afternoon kayaking there. If you venture out far enough, it really seems like it’s just you, the water, and the mountains.
It’s tempting to simply stay around the lake, but it’s well worth exploring Pokhara’s Old Town with its many ancient temples and traditional architecture.
Next, we spent three days in the cozy little hilltop village of Bandipur, immediately appreciating the total absence of tooting horns and exhaust fumes — motorized vehicles are banned within this historic hidden gem of a town, which was once an important stop on the Tibetan trade route. Its center consists of a single cobblestoned street, flanked on both sides by 18th-century buildings painted in pastel colors reminiscent of quaint little European towns. And there are a few old Hindu temples to be found too.
Most of Bandipur’s buildings have been restored, and are now quaint guesthouses and/or cafés. We stayed at The Old Inn, a charming traditional guesthouse with a terrace that has breathtaking views of the Annapurna range and the valley below Bandipur.
While our stay at Bandipur was mostly focused on enjoying its bougainvillea-draped coffee houses, leisurely strolls through the town, and sampling baked goods and traditional thalis, we also made time for a short hike uphill to the Thani Mai temple around sunset, where we were rewarded with more beautiful views of the town from above, bathed in golden light.
And just like that, even though Bandipur was added as a hasty afterthought to our itinerary, it became our favorite stop of the entire trip.
Saudi contemporary artist Sultan bin Fahad discusses his favorite works
‘My medium is storytelling,’ says Sultan bin Fahad
Updated 05 September 2024
Adam Grundey
DUBAI: The Riyadh-born, New York-based contemporary artist Sultan bin Fahad has been creating artworks since childhood. But, he says, he didn’t know that’s what he was doing for a long time.
“I always felt like I had a certain creativity in me,” he tells Arab News. “I was making what I called ‘things.’ But it was a hobby, you know? I thought it was like interior design — decorating my room. I didn’t know it could be considered art.”
At the time, bin Fahad was focused on building a career in the navy and on taekwondo. He had realistic hopes of competing in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, he says. But a series of injuries put paid to both of those dreams, and left him wondering what to do next.
He ended up studying business in San Francisco, where his accommodation was close to an art academy.
(Supplied)
“I’d pass by and see their work; that was the first time I was exposed to modern and contemporary art. And I realized, ‘Oh. So whatever I’ve been doing is probably considered some sort of art.’” He laughs. “That’s how I became aware of my ability to create artworks.”
He has become known particularly for his intricate and colorful beaded works, often created by artisans from the Hausa tribe in Nigeria.
“They have an interesting story,” he says. “They are Muslims, they study the Qur’an. But they kept the language of their tribe. They know all about Saudi. You can actually find descendants of the same tribe in Jeddah and Makkah. Back in the day, they travelled or went for Hajj and they never left. They stayed there for three or four generations.”
Beyond the physical side of his work, however, he says the most important thing is that each piece tells a story.
“I always say my medium is storytelling. I hate it when you show someone something and they say, ‘OK, what am I looking at?’ That means you definitely failed to show any emotion in your work. Like, I still make abstract paintings, and there is basically nothing to say about them. But people forget that there is an emotion when you look at something: you might feel happy, you might feel sad, you might be attracted to the colors. But if you look at any piece and you don’t get any idea in the first 10 seconds, then I failed.”
Here, bin Fahad talks us through some of his most significant works.
‘Delights III’
This series, “Delights,” came about during COVID lockdowns. I collect a lot of found objects, because they inspire me. I’d found these small gift boxes that used to have candy or nuts in. They come with different phrases on them, like, “May your day be filled with happiness and joy.” And there’s always a picture of shaking hands. The handshake is a universal gesture. And during COVID, we didn’t have that. People didn’t shake hands. Some people didn’t even see anyone. It was a dark time. So I thought, “OK, what if we had something in people’s homes, to give joy and a little hope?” First of all, I did a series of beaded works, and they were shown in an online art fair. Then this friend of mine who is a carpet maker had the idea of making carpets designed by artists from the GCC. And they chose me to represent Saudi. So, I designed this carpet. It’s this whole concept of hopeful, beautiful work that you can see every day and can give you good energy. It’s not an artwork; it’s part of the house. It’s living with you.
‘Desert Kite’
This was created for Desert X AlUla. AlUla is so beautiful. You can’t compete with it. So I wanted something that would basically separate you from the environment; something with walls, so you don’t know what’s around you and you can basically listen to the environment — to silence.
I have this fascination with history and heritage. There are these very interesting structures around the north west of Saudi and the south of Jordan: desert kites. The first time they discovered them was, I think, during World War Two. They were flying over them. You only can see them from above. And I wondered what their purpose was. Some people say that they’re prehistoric animal traps from thousands of years ago, so my intention was to create something telling that story, so that little blue-green object inside? That’s like the bait — food or water. That makes the animal go inside. Then they’re trapped. And inside the sculpture (on the walls) are a lot of mythical animals: the Medusa, the eagle, the Sphinx — and they’re all trapped in there too. And inside you can sit and actually listen to silence, which is very unusual in a place that is open like that. It’s very interesting.
One thing I really liked with this work was people’s interpretation of it. A lot of people said it looked like a keyhole — so it was the key to another culture or civilization; or it was the key between the sky and the Earth. I liked how people became their own curator. I’m happy to have people interpret my work the way they see it — as long as they get something out of it.
‘Window’
This was for my project “The Red Palace.” It’s one of my dearest projects. It made me comfortable with what I’m doing. This was my first real installation work, and my first time really doing something conceptual — almost like theater. And it was my first project with the Hausa artisans. And it’s dear to me because it’s a building I was really inspired by — I always used to walk past it as a kid and I always loved it. It defined architecture in Riyadh and it’s central to the history of Saudi Arabia, whether as a royal palace or as a government building. Everything from the Forties or Fifties to the Nineties was run from that palace.
The whole idea started with Diriyah Season. They wanted to do an exhibition, and I had this idea of doing a performance called “The Royal Dinner.” During that time, King Saud had three chefs, and they’d have a set menu. People think that, in Saudi Arabia at that time, it was all Bedouin. But no, we had sophistication. But nobody talks about it, and it’s not in in books. So I wanted to recreate this royal banquet to celebrate those behind the scenes; the labor that people don’t know about. I submitted this idea to the Ministry of Culture, and they approved it. So then I went and visited the palace, and I was like, “OK, this is much bigger than my idea, why don’t we expand it?” So we did a lot more, including “Window,” which has actually now been acquired by the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. It’s another dear work to me, because each window was reclaimed from a region of the Kingdom. And it’s backlit, so it shows you how beautiful it would feel to be in those houses with those windows. And it unifies all the regions into one. Like a lot of my work, it’s also nostalgic. When you see those windows, you think back: “Oh, I remember the time when we were kids and playing here and there.”
‘Trust’
These chairs were thrones for my “Red Palace” project. When I was looking into doing some beaded work — I wanted to do something in Africa, generally — I didn’t know how to get a contact. I saw I had an Instagram follower from Nigeria. I had no idea who she was. I just DM’d her, and asked if she knew anyone who could make beading work in Nigeria. She said she didn’t, but she could look into it. And she found someone. I showed them what I wanted to do — this was for “The Red Palace” — and while I was doing that, she messaged me and said: ‘Can I ask you a question? Why did you trust me to do this?’ I said, ‘Well, if you want something done, you have to trust someone.” Otherwise I’d have to have travelled myself, you know? When I told the curator this story, she said, “We have to call that piece ‘Trust.’” Because that’s what it was based on. This collaborative work we did, with workmanship like this, they don’t know how to create something new; they just work on what they know — they bead chairs traditionally. I needed to see if they could do it the way I wanted it to be. But that first collaboration led to a lot of other pieces, because they were open to the idea of doing it in a different form. That’s where the trust came from.
‘Masallaci’
This work is very dear to me. It’s a giving-back-to-the-community work. It’s a beautiful story. During the time when I was doing “The Red Palace” and “Trust,” the Hausa people that were working with me, they work in a village next to Abuja in Nigeria. When they have work, they travel there from their villages and they rent part of the place they’re working in for accommodation. I asked them where they prayed. It kind of made me feel like responsible, like I needed to support the community that was working for me. So, I asked them to decorate part of the place they were working in as a mosque — in their own way, their own traditions, their own language; the writing you see is the Hausa language, not Arabic — in exchange for me renting the space for them, to pray and live and work, for a whole year. Everything inside the mosque is beaded, except the floor. Even the furniture. And they sent a turban for me — you can see it in the picture, a little white turban. The imam of the mosque in Nigeria wears this turban, so this was their gift for me. It’s one of my favorite works. And it was really a collaboration; they designed it themselves, I just gave them the idea.
‘Laser’
This project was called “GWPOW” — which stands for Gulf War Prisoners of War. It’s about the Gulf War, but it’s also relevant to what’s happening now in Gaza. It’s about how life is stolen from kids who become soldiers when they’re supposed to be playing and living. They don’t take the decision, somebody else does.
I was 19 during the first Gulf War. I wanted to volunteer but I couldn’t, because of my injuries — I’d just had my second knee surgery. So I ended up volunteering as a translator. I went and saw the prisoners of war. Some of them were younger than me. They were, like, 16. They didn’t know what they were fighting for. They were just pushed into the war.
So this project was about the war, but it’s also thinking about those kids. They were supposed to be playing, not fighting. So I was thinking, ‘How can I portray those kids living during that time, in the desert, waiting to fight or to be killed?’ So this project became, like, a playroom for grownups. A recreation center in a war zone — everything is kind of childish. This is one of maybe six paintings I did as part of it, along with beaded works. It’s a pencil drawing, but there’s some collage on it, and some abstract painting, and some ink, so it’s mixed media. So the guy holding the lightsaber, that helmet looks like Darth Vader, but it’s not. It’s the helmet of Saddam Hussein’s Fedayeen corps. And I imagined these kids thinking of being a superhero.
‘Possession’
I saw these people at the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah. At certain times they open it for women, and they allow people to go privately. I was there with my mom and my family and there were screens, and there were these ladies touching the screens. And to me, it felt like, for them, they were in the highest stage of being possessed by religion, in a good way. Feeling invulnerable. They felt like they are connecting with the Prophet. I mean, I don’t know what it meant to them. I don’t know why they were doing it, but it felt so passionate. And it touched me. I felt like, if it gives them satisfaction, let them do it. It felt surreal to me — but I felt their passion.
‘Once Was A Ruler’
This is a combination of different antiquities that were in the National Museum. I was working there at the time. I wanted to talk about something that is taboo. A lot of people think that these pieces are statues of gods. That’s why they’re hidden away. But at that time, these civilizations were not making big sculptures of their gods, they were making them of themselves. They were a sign of power. So I made it look like an X-ray, and I put human bones on it to show that they are human. They were once a ruler, yes, but a person, not a god.
‘R III’
“R III” means Ramses the Third. I did this in Egypt, at the Pyramids of Giza. Like with AlUla, this is a place I am in awe of. Like, I can’t compete with nature or with history, so I tried to work with it, complementing the place without actually trying to put my force or my creative energy in it. I was humbled in these places. So, I can’t compete with the Pyramids, but I tried to make something inspired by them. When you look at it from above, you see it has the seal of Ramses the Third. That seal has been found near AlUla, and that means he was probably there — not for fighting, but probably exploring, looking for copper or something — because the pharaohs wouldn’t usually let their seals be carried by others. So I wanted to show this bridge between Ancient Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
