JEDDAH, 27 April 2007 — Thirteen young women photographers from the UK and Saudi Arabia have their works on exhibit at the Jeddah Hilton as part of a three-year-old program sponsored by the British Council.
The exhibition, titled “As We See It,” pairs students and instructors from Jeddah’s Dar Al-Hekma College and London’s University College of Creative Arts.
“This exhibition represents an excellent example of how young people working together from our two countries can help build deeper understanding and create lasting positive relationships between the two kingdoms, the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” said William Patey, the newly arrived British ambassador to Saudi Arabia, during the launch of the exhibition on Wednesday.
The project was initiated in 2003 when the Dar Al-Hekma students were visiting the British college. The British Council decided to foster a program between the two institutions of higher education.
“We chose five of our best women students in the second year of the photography exhibition to join the project,” said Martin Pover, a senior lecturer at the UK college.
The budding photographers were granted the opportunity to visit each other’s countries to learn about the local culture. Photos taken by the eight Saudi photographers focus on life in the Muslim community in Britain. Pictures show British schoolgirls skipping rope in hijabs, a woman school bus driver, and other scenes of the life of a British Muslim.
“I lived in London for two years but had not really taken any notice of Islamic culture in the UK,” wrote Saudi photographer Danya Al-Saady in the exhibition pamphlet. “They lived as any normal Muslims in Saudi Arabia,” she added.
On the British side, photographers visited Jeddah twice in the past three years.
“It would’ve been nice if we had chance to spend more time, but we were very lucky in having the chance to take pictures in Saudi Arabia,” said British photographer Heidi Marshall.
Indeed, taking photographs in Saudi Arabia can be a tricky game. The Kingdom last year officially legalized public photography, but taking snapshots of families can still land photographers in conflict with their subjects, especially when taking pictures of women.
The British students had the rare opportunity to be escorted to take photographs of Saudi life, such as Saudi women praying, that might otherwise be difficult to capture. Other pictures show dark-skinned men in Jeddah’s downtown holding hands, Jeddah streets flooded with water after a rainy day, a ruined Turkish castle in the suburbs of Jeddah and, of course, the ubiquitous camels.
The “As We See It” photo exhibition is open to the public till May 3 at the lower lobby of the Jeddah Hilton.
