Ithra and Barjeel Art Foundation host works of Arab women artists in KSA
- Last updated: September 21, 2025 | 09:54
Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer
The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), a leading cultural institution located in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, has launched the exhibition Horizon in Their Hands: Women Artists from the Arab World (1960s–1980s), from September 18 to February 14, 2026, at the Ithra Museum, with ticketed access to the museum gallery available through booking on the Ithra website.
Presented in collaboration with the Barjeel Art Foundation, a prominent UAE-based art initiative with an extensive collection of modern and contemporary Arab art, the exhibition brings together 50 women artists from across the Arab world whose work from the 1960s to the 1980s, played an instrumental role in shaping the visual and cultural narratives of the region.
Spanning generations, geographies and movements, the exhibition shines a light on how the pioneering artists used craft, tradition and innovation, to expand the possibilities of artistic expression. Including painting, sculpture, glass, brass, tapestry, ceramics and mixed media, the works on display explore themes of identity, memory, place, tradition, and renewal.
The myriad perspectives presented in the exhibition are shaped by their cultural, political, and personal contexts, offering new readings of modern Arab art history.
Some of the highlights are works by Safeya Binzagr (Saudi Arabia, 1940–2024), a pioneering Saudi Arabian artist who was the first woman to have a solo art exhibition in Saudi Arabia; Mounirah Mosly (Saudi Arabia, 1954–2019), a Saudi Arabian plastic works artist and painter who often worked with materials like copper and palm tree fibre; Inji Efflatoun (Egypt, 1924–1989), a revolutionary artist and political activist whose vivid paintings speak to resistance and liberation.
Her oil on canvas titled Ezba (1953) is presented at the exhibition; Chaibia Talal (Morocco, 1929–2004), an icon of North African art, celebrated for her colourful, expressive works rooted in rural mythology. The artist’s 1969 oil on canvas, Août, is on view; Susan Hefuna (Egypt/Germany, b. 1962), a multimedia artist exploring identity, urban life, and cultural hybridity who presents her ink stain on wood work titled Al Sabr Gamil, dated 2007; and Vera Tamari (Palestine, b. 1945), a painter and ceramicist who examines memory, loss, and homeland. Her ceramic relief titled Palestinian Women at Work (1979) is part of the exhibition.
From early modernists such as painter Zeinab Abd El Hamid (Egypt, 1919–2002) and painter and tapestry artist Safia Farhat (Tunisia, 1924–2004) to contemporary voices including Mariam Al Fakhro (Bahrain, b. 1952) and Suad Al-Essa (Kuwait, b. 1943), the exhibition reflects how Arab women have actively shaped the region’s evolving artistic heritage.
“Featuring the work of 50 seminal figures, Horizon in Their Hands revisits the contributions of women artists who challenged the very definition of art,” says Rémi Homs, curator of the exhibition. “The works examine how they engaged with the boundaries between art and craft, turning this intersection into fertile ground for critical reflection. What defines fine art? Where does the line fall between utilitarian and often gendered forms of craft and individual artistic expression? And how can materiality itself become a vehicle for cultural and political commentary?”
“Horizon in Their Hands reflects Ithra’s aim to cultivate a thriving cultural ecosystem — one that contributes to preserving legacies, amplifying diverse voices and inspiring dialogue between past, present, and future,” says Farah Abushullaih, Head of Ithra Museum. “Through this institutional collaboration that foregrounds underrepresented narratives in Arab art, this exhibition is set to become a milestone in Ithra’s ongoing mission of nurturing creativity and cultural dialogue across the region and beyond.” Ithra, an initiative by Aramco, is a leading cultural destination in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The Center focuses on enriching people’s lives by offering impactful cultural and creative programmes and initiatives.
Since its opening in 2018, Ithra has become a distinguished architectural landmark which houses the Idea Lab, Library, Theater, Museum, Cinema, Great Hall, Energy Exhibit, Children’s Museum and Knowledge Tower. Barjeel Art Foundation is an independent, Sharjah-based initiative established by Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi in 2010 to manage, preserve and exhibit an extensive collection of over 2,000 pieces of Modern and Contemporary Art from North Africa and West Asia.
The Foundation’s guiding principle is to foster critical dialogue around modern and contemporary art practices, with a focus on artists with Arab heritage internationally; it strives to create an open-ended inquiry that responds to and conveys the nuances inherent to Arab histories beyond the borders of culture and geography.
Since its inception, it has held over 40 art exhibitions both locally in the United Arab Emirates and internationally in cities like Singapore, Paris, London, Berlin, Toronto, New York, Boston, Tampa, New Haven, Amman, Kuwait, Alexandria, Baku and Tehran, allowing global audiences to gain first-hand access to Arab art. It has also loaned artworks to over 160 institutions globally, including museums like Tate Liverpool and Tate St. Ives, MoMA PS1, The Art Institute of Chicago, Mori Museum, among others. Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi is an Emirati educator, art collector, scholar, and columnist.
He is an influential commentator on Arab affairs, and is an authority on modern and contemporary art of the region. He has completed a number of academic fellowships and residencies, including at Yale as a World Fellow, at the Kennedy School’s Belfer Center at Harvard University, and others. He has also offered courses on the Politics of Modern Middle Eastern Art as a visiting scholar at universities including NYU and Columbia University.