JEDDAH: “For 35 years, I’ve been photographing in black and white analog. And this is my whole career.”
With these words, Princess Reem Al-Faisal reflects on a lifetime devoted to the art of image-making, a journey that has evolved from shadow and light to a profound exploration of color, identity and belonging.
Her latest exhibition, held at Wasl Art Space in Jeddah until May 30, marks a new chapter in that journey.
Titled “Land of Pilgrims and Poets,” the exhibition brings together decades of artistic inquiry, travel and contemplation, weaving together themes of faith, culture and the spirit of place.
Her documentation of Hajj is one of the most significant bodies of work in her career, because she was the first female photographer to document the pilgrimage. Rather than approaching Hajj as a spectacle, she frames it as a civilizational encounter.
Princess Reem’s new book, “Status of Light,” was published on May 7 and gives readers a small sample of her work.
The princess explained to Arab News that the new book is not about nostalgia. “My work is about the present. Trying to find the spirit of the place that has lasted over centuries talking about the presence of the divine, it’s really the presence of the infinite. But the whole line between them is light.”
Light, in her philosophy, is a metaphysical element binding time, faith and geography.
“We say in Arabic, altadabur, it is the deep, mindful reflection upon the verses of the Quran, moving beyond mere recitation to understand and apply the divine messages to daily life, and my basic inspiration is the Quranic verse, God is the light of the heavens and the earth. And that’s why I call it the states of light.”
Her early black-and-white period sharpened her sensitivity to tone and composition. But it was her work in Saudi Arabia and her attempt to capture it that sparked a transformation in her method.
“When I started photographing Saudi Arabia, for some reason, and I have no idea why, every time I take a picture and it comes out in black and white, it was as if it wasn’t me.
“It just didn’t speak. It didn’t express what I was looking for. So I shifted to photographing in color.”
The shift was more philosophical than just technical. In black and white, she explained, form and presence dominate. In color, something else emerges.
“When in black and white, mostly, the subject was the place, and the human being. And through the shadow and light.
“When I started photographing color, the color became its subject. So, if you look at my work, it’s really more than the place as a construction of color.”
Her lens turned toward the vastness of the Kingdom, its deserts, mountains and coastlines, searching for a unifying identity within diversity.
Reflecting on the Kingdom’s vast geography and cultural diversity, she noted that despite differences in landscape, traditions and appearance between regions, a unifying thread binds Saudi Arabia, and even the wider Arabian Peninsula rooted in a shared history of movement, trade and Bedouin heritage that has shaped its identity across centuries, leaving traces from Africa to China and Europe.
Raised in a family deeply rooted in culture and intellectual life, she is the granddaughter of Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal. Princess Reem studied Arabic literature at King Abdulaziz University before continuing her photographic training at Speos Institute in Paris.
Her career has included several publications and international exhibitions, yet her focus remains inward on meaning rather than acclaim.
“I worked for several years before I even did this exhibition with the printer to get the color I wanted. It’s a much higher understanding of the higher status of a state and intellectuality.”
In “Land of Pilgrims and Poets,” the viewer is invited not only to see Saudi Arabia through the princess’s creative lens, but to contemplate it through light, through language and decades of devotion.
