Brushes with history: Saudi artist Hend Al-Mansour's quest to reframe the story of women’s roles in the Arab world

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Hend Al-Mansour came to the US 21 years ago as a physician, then gave up medicine for art. Her work received the juror’s award at the Contemporary Islamic Art exhibition in Riyadh in 2012 and she received the Jerome fellowship in printmaking.
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Updated 23 March 2018
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Brushes with history: Saudi artist Hend Al-Mansour's quest to reframe the story of women’s roles in the Arab world

WASHINGTON: The West — and the Western media especially — has tended to see Saudi Arabian women mostly as victims, passive players in a deeply patriarchal culture.
That view has been slowly changing. As the driving ban lifts this June, Saudi women are being perceived not as victims but as standing up for their rights.
Hend Al-Mansour, a leading figure in the Saudi women’s movement, is one of the most widely recognized Saudi women artists. She has been on a quest to reclaim, through her art, the story of women in the Arab world.
“In the first few years (of my shows), I found myself more or less educating people, trying to help them understand the basic thing, that women in the Arab world are not passive,” she said. “Later, the audience was more understanding. Especially now, as the Saudis are on the front pages, people understand more.
“People are very curious. Gradually, they’re getting it. It’s baby steps.”
Al-Mansour came to the US 21 years ago as a physician, then gave up medicine for art. Her work received the juror’s award at the Contemporary Islamic Art exhibition in Riyadh in 2012 and she received the Jerome fellowship in printmaking.
One of her prints was recently on the cover of a report for the Center for Women’s Global Leadership, a nod to Al-Mansour’s importance among Saudi Arabian feminists. The report lists 20 instances of activism in three different waves by Saudi women, starting from the historic demonstration against the driving ban on Nov. 6, 1990.
In an extraordinarily open conversation, Al-Mansour talked with Arab News about leaving medicine for art, the status of women in Saudi Arabia, and the changing view of Arab women in the West.

How has the view of women in the Arab world changed, especially from the West?
Especially in the West, there is a broad blanket, and it covers all women. But the Arab world is not homogeneous. In the 1970s, when I visited Beirut, it was normal for women and girls to wear miniskirts. In Saudi Arabia, men and women have been assigned well-defined, separate spaces. I studied in Egypt (attending medical school there). There women could get a wide range of education. They could be engineers, doctors.
In the late 80s and 90s, a wave of conservatism came over the Middle East. When I went back to Saudi Arabia in the 2000s, I could see black gloves, and I was surprised.
When I first came (to the US) they didn’t differentiate: A Pakistani, Iranian and Arab were the same thing. After the Arab Spring, they began to understand there are differences.
More importantly, they understand women are not passive in the Arab world. Women in the Middle East have conviction. If they put hijab on, they believe that this is part of their identity, religion and respect for their bodies. If they don’t put it on, they have conviction about that, too. They are active in whatever they’re doing. They are passionate.

I have often wondered, looking at photographs of the old Middle East, what would cause women to willingly give up some of their freedom?
I don’t understand either. When I was in Saudi Arabia, my friends were mostly unveiled. When I went back, my friends were all veiled. It’s a social phenomenon, but I don’t think religion is the cause. The religion is the result (of the same wave that results in women putting on the veil).
I put on hijab in Egypt for more than a year. It was a more of a rebellious act. I was catching the beginning of the wave.

What made you take it off?
I felt like a hypocrite. My behavior wasn’t that of a pious woman.

How do you explain the influence of religion in Saudi Arabia to Americans?
In Saudi Arabia (some believe that) the morality of the community depends on how the women dress and behave. The duty of the women is to keep society straight. Men’s job is to guard women.
It’s complex. Men are not off the hook. The whole community has roles, but they’re not natural. There is a concept in Saudi Arabia that women have half brains. That’s why I went to medical school, to prove that wrong. Now, there is a deviation from all that baggage, as Saudi Arabia becomes less isolated. Women are being recognized as whole humans.

What are some lost stories of Saudi Arabia?
When I was in Saudi Arabia, I learned the Western art. I admired Leonardo da Vinci. But there were beautiful local practices, like henna, I didn’t recognize. When my mother was a young woman, she thought henna was something backwards. … But each local, beautiful pattern has a name. We have lost it now. …I (found) eight of the patterns, and created an image of them. I made a series of prints from those. I also printed around them a folktale from the same period of time: Green in Souk, Red in Mother.
Another thing that we lost is the native architecture. When I was a child, under 10, there was a totally different landscape, of mud houses and narrow streets. The narrow streets keep the shadow in the street, and women can move in between their houses without having to veil. Even in the neighborhood, they could go from one house to another.

Does your mother like what you’re doing now?
She was really excited when I became a doctor, and mad at me when I left medicine, though she thinks I am a good artist. … She didn’t go to school when she was young, because there weren’t any schools. She studied with me.
What people should recognize is that women in Saudi Arabia are working harder than other women to make progress, to be in that place. I remember a story a woman told me of what her father did when he saw her holding a pencil – just holding a pencil. That was a great sin, and he hit her.

What led you to give up being a doctor to become an artist?
I wanted freedom of expression and freedom to be myself. It was really hard. When I realized how our conception of art in the Arab world was limited to Western art, the whole question of identity came to the fore.
Mostly what I like to do now are installations. I take rolls of paper or rolls of fabric and hang them on a skeleton. I build those spaces, borrowing the shapes of tents and mosques. My latest is called the “Pink House of God.” It’s about a Saudi woman who lives in Minnesota and includes a design made by Bedouin women. This design is intermingled with Tinkerbell. Tinkerbell was important to the woman I interviewed, because Tinkerbell is independent and could manage things.
There is a prayer rug on the floor. I want to show we can identify with Arab women. I put women into these shrines. This is more of a message to the Arab or Islamic audience.


Saudi Arabia’s NEOM gigaproject a ‘generational investment,’ minister says

Updated 26 November 2024
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Saudi Arabia’s NEOM gigaproject a ‘generational investment,’ minister says

  • The world’s top oil exporter has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into development projects through the kingdom’s $925 billion sovereign fund

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s NEOM gigaproject, a futuristic region being built in the desert, is a “generational investment” with a long timeline, the country’s investment minister told Reuters on Monday, adding that foreign investment will pick up pace.
“NEOM was not meant to be a two-year investable opportunity. If anybody expected NEOM to be foreign investment in two, three or five years, then they have gotten (it) wrong — it’s a generational investment,” Minister Khalid Al-Falih said on the sidelines of the World Investment Conference in Riyadh.
“The flywheel is starting and it will gain speed as we go forward, as some of the foundational assets come to the market,” he said.
The world’s top oil exporter has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into development projects through the kingdom’s $925 billion sovereign fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), as it undergoes an economic agenda dubbed Vision 2030 to cut dependence on fossil fuels.
NEOM, a Red Sea urban and industrial development nearly the size of Belgium that is meant to eventually house 9 million people, is central to Vision 2030. Saudi Arabia has scaled back some lofty ambitions to prioritize completing elements essential to hosting global sporting events over the next decade as rising costs weigh, sources told Reuters earlier this month. NEOM announced this month its long-time chief executive, Nadhmi Al-Nasr, had stepped down, without giving further details.
Asked what effect the departure would have on investors, the minister said the executive had done “a respectable job” but that “there is a time for everybody to pass on the baton.”
Asked if PIF will continue to do much of the spending on NEOM until more foreign funds come in, Al-Falih said it was not binary.
“I think foreign investors are starting to come to NEOM, they’re starting to channel capital. Some of the projects that the PIF will be doing will be financed through global capital pools, through some alternative and private capital. That’s taking place as we speak,” he said.
“So I urge you not to look at NEOM as being 100 percent PIF and then suddenly there will be a cliff and it will go private.”
Saudi Arabia, which is racing to attract $100 billion in annual foreign direct investment by the turn of the decade — reaching about a quarter of that in 2023 — has recently seen more co-investment deals between state entities and foreign investors.
“It’s always been the intent,” Al-Falih said of foreign inflows alongside state funds.
He noted that foreign investors were at times “still looking, still examining, still sometimes questioning,” but that now there was confidence in the profitability of investment opportunities and that “the risk-return trade-offs are very, very fair and positive to them.”


Saudi crown prince extends condolences to Kuwaiti counterpart on death of Sheikh Mohammed Abdulaziz Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah

Updated 26 November 2024
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Saudi crown prince extends condolences to Kuwaiti counterpart on death of Sheikh Mohammed Abdulaziz Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah

RIYADH: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sent a cable of condolences to Kuwaiti Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah on the passing of Sheikh Mohammed Abdulaziz Hamoud Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah.
In the cable, the crown prince extended his deepest sympathy to Sheikh Sabah and the family of the deceased.


Saudi tech diplomat meets Iraqi PM to discuss digital cooperation

Updated 25 November 2024
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Saudi tech diplomat meets Iraqi PM to discuss digital cooperation

  • Deemah Al-Yahya, head of the multilateral Digital Cooperation Organization, commended Iraq’s investment in human capital as driver for growth and expansion of digital economy
  • Iraq has been working in recent years to develop a strategy for digital transformation to help support the private and public sectors and grow the economy

RIYADH: Saudi senior tech diplomat Deemah AlYahya, the secretary-general of the multilateral Digital Cooperation Organization, held talks on Monday with Iraq’s prime minister, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, about support for Baghdad’s plans to develop its digital business and artificial intelligence sectors.

They discussed Iraq’s strategy for digital transformation, and the need to create and develop a workforce with the tech skills required to help grow the Iraqi economy effectively, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Though Iraq is not a member of the DCO, an international body that focuses on the digital economy, Al-Sudani said his country is keen to work with the organization to meet the nation’s needs for a skilled workforce in the business sector.

AlYahya commended Iraq for the progress it has already made in terms of investment in the human capital needed to develop the digital skills that are essential to drive growth in a digitized economy.

Iraq has been working in recent years to develop a strategy for digital transformation to help support the private and public sectors and grow the economy. Authorities this month organized the first Digital Space Iraq Forum, which focused on the use of advanced technologies, including AI, to help build a comprehensive digital economy.

The DCO says that since it was founded in November 2020, it has been at the forefront of efforts to curate policies and initiatives to support the digital economy in several countries. Currently, 16 nations are members, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh and Oman. It also has 39 observer partner organizations.

DCO member states have a collective gross domestic product of $3.5 trillion and serve a combined market of nearly 800 million people, more than 70 percent of whom are under the age of 35.


Saudi FM pushes for regional stability at G7-Arab foreign ministers meeting

Updated 25 November 2024
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Saudi FM pushes for regional stability at G7-Arab foreign ministers meeting

  • In his address, Prince Faisal highlighted the ongoing crises in Gaza and Lebanon

RIYADH: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan took part in an expanded session of the second meeting between G7 foreign ministers and their counterparts from Arab nations on Monday, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The meeting was hosted in Italy under the theme “Together for the Stability of the Middle East.”

The session, which addressed pressing regional and international challenges, was held with the participation of Saudi, Jordanian, Emirati, Qatari and Egyptian officials, as well as the secretary-general of the Arab League.

In his address, Prince Faisal emphasized the importance of strengthening partnerships to address these challenges effectively.

He highlighted the ongoing crises in Gaza and Lebanon, urging the international community to act immediately to secure a ceasefire, facilitate unrestricted humanitarian aid, and progress toward establishing an independent Palestinian state.

He also called for respect for Lebanon’s sovereignty, and renewed international efforts to resolve the crisis in Sudan and alleviate the resulting human suffering.

The meeting was also attended by Prince Faisal bin Sattam bin Abdul Aziz, Saudi ambassador to Italy, the SPA reported.


Scientists awarded for sustainable water innovation at Saudi conference

Updated 25 November 2024
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Scientists awarded for sustainable water innovation at Saudi conference

  • Research aims to improve desalination efficiency
  • Makkah’s deputy emir in attendance

JEDDAH: Scientists were awarded prizes for their work in researching desalination and wastewater treatment technologies during an event in Jeddah on Monday.

The third edition of the Innovation-Driven Water Sustainability Conference was attended by 480 experts, scientists, researchers, specialists and 40 leading organizations in the water sector, from 20 countries.

The grand prize — the Global Prize for Innovation in Desalination 2024 — went to Lee Nuang Sim from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University for his project “uncovering the power of centrifugal reverse osmosis,” and Sue Mecham, CEO of NALA Membranes, for her project “chlorine stable new membranes for sustainable desalination and wastewater treatment/reuse.”

Visitors attend the third Innovation-Driven Water Sustainability Conference in Jeddah on Nov. 25, 2024. (Supplied)

Mecham, from North Carolina, US, spoke to Arab News after receiving her award, saying: “We are honored to be selected for the Global Prize for Innovation in Desalination 2024. Our mission is to bring new membranes to market and reduce the cost and complexity of water purification.”

Meanwhile, Saudi Ghadeer Al-Balawi from the University of Tabuk was another one of this year’s prizewinners with her project “novel heterogeneous catalysts for improving wastewater treatment plants in Saudi Arabia.”

Al-Balawi told Arab News: “I am incredibly honored to be one of the recipients of the Global Prize for Innovation in Desalination 2024. This recognition means so much to me. This project has been conducted at the University of Sheffield with hard work and dedication with the assistance of my supervisor, Dr. Marco Conte.”

The event’s opening ceremony was attended by Makkah Deputy Emir Prince Saud bin Mishal and Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman Abdulmohsen Al-Fadley, as well as other senior officials.

Following the opening, Abdullah Al-Abdulkarim, chairman of the Saudi Water Authority, said that the event reflects the Kingdom’s commitment to promoting scientific and research innovation as a pillar for achieving water sustainability and security.

Through the conference, the SWA aims to share the impact of innovation in promoting the sustainable supply of water, according to SWA spokesperson Sultan Al-Rajhi.

“This conference discusses the latest global practices and innovative solutions in the water industry, with the participation of experts, scientists and specialists, who emphasize the pivotal role of innovation in accelerating the future prosperity of water and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals for water and the environment,” he said.

The two-day conference will continue to feature discussions on more than 180 research papers, as well as a water hackathon organized by the Saudi Water Innovation Center.