JEDDAH: A Jeddah car showroom was transformed into a Hajj-themed art gallery this month, displaying works from modern and contemporary Saudi artists.
Inspired by the spirit of the Hajj season, the “Where the Journey Begins” art exhibition was a collaborative showcase by Genesis Mohamed Yousuf Naghi Motors Co. and the Darb Al-Fann foundation held from May 4 to 14.
It featured more than 25 artworks chosen by a committee of well-known Saudi artists from a pool of more than 100 entries dedicated to the spirituality of the Hajj and Umrah journeys.
Walaa Jamal, director of the Darb Al-Fann program and curator of the exhibition, spoke to Arab News about the inspiration behind the collection.
“The exhibition is about the journey of Hajj. Artists demonstrated the stages of Hajj, starting in Makkah, going through Hajj ritual sites and ending in Madinah,” she said.
“Each participating artist expressed, through his or her own style and technique, the profound emotions of this great season and this great spiritual journey.”
Jamal added: “Simply, it is a unique fine art exhibition celebrating the spirituality of the Hajj season, where creative works come together to capture beauty of the faith journey and its profound meanings.”
The works on display reflect the depth of the human soul and the spirit of Hajj; all the displayed paintings were clearly focused on creating spiritual connections.
In one corner of the exhibition, work by young Saudi artist Sultan Othman was distinguished by his loose and textured brush strokes as he illustrated a piece depicting pilgrims around the Kaaba with raised hands.
“Once I knew about this exhibition, I just couldn’t wait to take part in it because it is Hajj season and I had some work related to Hajj to showcase it, but I just presented this painting using oil paints, which represents a simple and regular Muslim standing in front of the Kaaba,” the banking employee said.
Visual artist Mohammed Jamal was moved by the dedication of Saudi guards and security personnel during Hajj.
He said: “Seeing Saudi security forces and guards tirelessly assisting, cooling and protecting worshipers during the pilgrimage is a profoundly heartwarming sight.
“So, these scenes made me think to do an artwork to show how helpful those officers are.”
He added that his painting is about an officer carrying an elderly man during Hajj.
“It really shows how dedicated our officers are toward pilgrims and I call it ‘when duty meets compassion’.”
The spirit of Hajj was also expressed by a young Saudi artist with special needs, Majed Baswad.
His painting represents the “Standing at Arafat,” the most sacred and spiritual peak of the Hajj pilgrimage.
Baswad’s mother told Arab News that her son had several ideas, but he chose to go with the Hajj journey and he worked on the piece for a while, where he represented the most significant stages of the Hajj journey.
