The curtain will rise on a major Saudi-Italian cultural bonanza when the “Soglie-Nawafeth” Cultural Dialogue Project, jointly organized by the two countries, opens in Rome on June 10 in the presence of some 45 Saudi women artists and craftswomen.
The nine-day long event, in which scores of Italian women artists and scholars will also participate, is being jointly organized by Al-Nahda Philanthropic Society for Women and the Italian Embassy under the patronage of the Saudi and Italian ministries of culture and information.
Rosaria d’Auria, curator of the Nawafeth project and wife of Italian ambassador, Eugenio d’Auria, made the announcement yesterday. She said that her team members had been working to ensure everything was in place for the event, which is being organized with a mission “to reinforce intellectual and cultural interaction between the Kingdom and Italy.”
Ilaria d’Auria, an Italian anthropologist; Luigi Caterino, a photographer; and Luigi Mosca, another anthropologist, were present.
The Saudi-Italian cultural event, also being promoted by the Rome municipality, will take place on the premises of the Museo di Roma in Trastevere. The program will include a joint Saudi-Italian exhibition and lectures by Saudi women scholars with special reference to social, historical, anthropological and economic relations and backgrounds. The exhibition, the main component of the cultural program, will feature handicrafts and traditional works, textiles, jewelry, pottery, glass, traditional dresses and costumes.
There will also be discourses to highlight common points between Saudi and Italian culture and heritage, said d’Auria, rejecting the notion that “religions pose barriers in building relationships”.
She pointed out: “The aim of the event is to promote bilateral cultural dialogue, particularly by sharing the personal and professional experiences of women artists from the two countries.” She said many women artists from the Kingdom and Italy would meet “to exchange values of our culture and civilization, through the language that is comprehended by all — the language of art and creativity.”
She said that the Saudi women would also be taken on tours of Rome and visits to cultural monuments.
A 160-page catalog entitled “Nawafeth-A Project for Dialogue”, which features several works of art and paintings by Saudi and Italian female artists, has been printed.
