Asir celebrated the first of a kind art fair for artists inspired by the region's architectural heritage. Formative artists competed in the fair with 80 pieces of art that use the beautiful values of Asir’s traditional building style, mixing it with modern formative methods.

Using different artistic platforms, like photography, formative painting, sculptures, drilling, printing, ceramics, and glass, all art works depict the region's rich architectural tradition.

The exhibit is organized by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities in partnership with the Saudi Society for Fine Arts in Asir as part of the activities of the Fourth Architectural Heritage Forum currently being held in Asir.

Director of the Saudi Society for Fine Arts in Asir Ali Marzuk told Arab News that this heritage represents the identity of conservative Muslims and their respect for the norms and traditions. “This competition aims to encourage formative artists in the Kingdom to take inspiration from the beauty around them in Asir, using contemporary arts,” Marzuk said, explaining that these art pieces help to keep the region's heritage alive.

Artist Mohammed Sharahili said the shapes and colors used in Asir's architecture represent symbols and have a meaning known by people in the past.

“The southern art relies more on triangles, which meant that there was a woman in the house,” Sharahili explains, adding that triangles were painted in four different colors, that represented the woman’s age. The yellow meant that the woman was still a baby, blue meant that she’s a child, green would be used to show that there was a woman ready for marriage, and a red triangle explained that she became a mother.

Sharahili pointed out that colors were made from natural substances and craftsmen would use brushes made out of goat's hair.

This year's winner was Fahd Al-Naima, who took the prize home after drawing the region's architecture. Al-Naima said that the challenge wasn’t easy, particularly as he was born and raised in Najd. “We have a different architecture there and Asir has a very rich heritage of multiple layers and colors, with deep historical meanings and scientific rules,” the artist explained, adding that he worked hard to study how the three main colors, red blue and yellow, are employed in shapes and forms that are hard for a non-Asiri to understand.

Despite the difficulties, Al-Naima claims that he has cherished the experience, as Asiri architecture is a “stand-alone school of art.”