A significant part of my project proposal has been stepping out of my comfort zone to see if there were any artistic avenues in Jeddah — contrary to popular opinion. Looking at my old blog posts I realize I can date it back to that day at Arbab al Heraf. That day two things coincidentally came to my attention: I realized that, hidden in the nooks and crannies of Jeddah, circles of writers and artists bloomed Jeddah, and KSA as a whole, was undergoing a mini-cultural revolution Thus began an exploration that has gained momentum over this last year, almost too …
Tag: blog
Exploring the Saudi Center for Fine Arts
Day two of our art gallery tour series found us on the doorstep of The Saudi Center for Fine Arts. Where Arbab al Heraf had been an amorphous concept, leaving us with little knowledge what to expect and then surprising us with hospitality, inclusiveness and an indiscriminate love for the artistic, SCFA was quite a bit more disciplined and exclusive. There, I made it sound horrible didn’t I? Well what can I say, it was a tad bit disappointing in a few ways. The art gallery section of it was glorious. Glass walls, two floors, literally papered with gorgeous abstracts …
Tutorial 1
Date: 1st November Professor: Jonathan Kearney This was how I felt before the tutorial. And this is me after: Seriously. It was as if I held unsolved jigsaw puzzle pieces in my head that somehow came together over the course of the conversation. The morning before the tutorial began, I was thinking abstractly about all the concepts which were important to me. I had read the pdf file on writing a project proposal but I wasn’t quite ready to formulate my own. All I knew was: I am interested in story telling I guessed that that categorized my work as …
Visit to Arbab Al Heraf
Every expat I have ever met in Jeddah, artist or no, has always been absolutely certain of one fact: there is no room for the expat artist to grow in Jeddah’s local art scene. Yes, you can get a teaching job, yes, you can even visit art galleries superficially, but to be part of it all? Nope. Not happening. And for the longest time I believed them. After all, it IS daunting to step out of your comfort zone, to put yourself out there without even knowing the language, and try to find a space for yourself. But after the first Skype …
Making sense of Symposium 1
Okay, this has definitely been LONG overdue. Symposium 1 happened last week! and I only just now managed to sit down to reflect upon what occurred. But it is not as though I was idling that time away, I have been working on all the aspects I previously mentioned in my post Pause which will help me get steadily nearer to my academic and professional goals. So let’s get down to it. Reflections on Symposium 1 as per the Lawrence Wilke’s model: Remember: If I think back to what stood out for me in the second half of the symposium (which was …