Saudi artist Nabila Abuljadayel has been goodwill ambassador for the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief) since 2018. She specializes in portraying royal families through the medium of silk art.
Abuljadayel produced a painting — “Isjod wa Iqtareb” (Prostrate and Draw Near) — during the Kingdom’s COVID-19 lockdown. The painting captures a moment of stillness and contemplation as a cleaner kneels in the courtyard of Makkah’s Grand Mosque, the only worshipper in the normally bustling holy site.
Abuljadayel often uses her art to contribute to humanitarian ends.
The “Alive in My Heart” exhibition, held in Boston 2015, was dedicated to late King Abdullah. Abuljadayel presented the entire collection to Makkah Gov. Prince Khalid Al-Faisal.
The supervisor general of KSRelief, Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, presented Abuljadayel’s artwork — “Salman the Humanitarian” — to King Salman at the opening ceremony of the Saudi humanitarian aid platform launched by the king as part of the Riyadh International Humanitarian Forum in 2018.
In 2019, the new Media and Communication Center at the headquarters of the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Riyadh acquired 10 of Abuljadayel’s artworks.
Abuljadayel earned her bachelor’s degree in digital art and photography from Northeastern University in Boston in 2016.
Abuljadayel also studied cinema at Harvard University, where her ideas on reviving Saudi heritage through the innovative blending of art and film first materialized.
She has created more than 400 artworks that depict royalty, in particular the Saudi royal family, as well as the Bahraini and Jordanian monarchies.
