(17 Jul 2025)
UAE SAUDI EXHIBITION
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
LENGTH: 3:39
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dubai, United Arab Emirates – 15 July 2025
1. Various of lighting projection on sand at art exhibition at the Jameel Arts Centre
2. Visitor watching artwork
3. Artwork featuring a bird
4. Photographs of people listening to storyteller
5. Helena Davidson-Houston, arts and culture curator, at the exhibition
6. Majlis made of used doors
7. Davidson-Houston taking photo on her mobile phone
8. Close of mobile phone
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Helena Davidson-Houston, arts and culture curator:
"It’s very personal in that it addresses where he’s from. A sort of lush oasis, you’ve got the palm fronds throughout the exhibition. You’ve got references to the desert, the different landscapes of where he lives. And I love the way that it kind of weaves its way through the inside and the outside of the galleries. The little sort of interventions with the sculptures and the little courtyards here."
10. Photographs of water channels and people taken from around Al-Ahsa
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Helena Davidson-Houston, arts and culture curator:
"It’s really wide-ranging the diverse media the artist uses, the subjects he uses. It’s very personal, but he’s also addressing animals, plants, humans."
12. Family visiting exhibition
13. Various of Moyoung Kim and her family watching video of “The Date fruit of knowledge”
14. Moyoung Kim and her daughter at exhibition
15. Various of artwork featuring fish made of palm tree fronds put over palm trunks
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Moyoung Kim, visitor:
"I’m from Korea. And the nature and the agriculture is similar to Korean ways. So it made me surprised. I think it’s really similar to us. It is familiar. It is accustomed to us. There’s no big difference."
17. Various of spray paint and charcoal on canvas
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Moyoung Kim, visitor:
"When I look at this artwork, I feel a deep connection to nature. It is very creative and natural. I feel like my child really likes them. And I and my husband also like them."
19. Various of Moyoung Kim and her daughter at the listener booth
20. Bird cage
21. People leaving exhibition
STORYLINE:
An award-winning Saudi artist is showcasing daily life from his hometown at his first solo exhibition in the United Arab Emirates.
Mohammad al-Faraj, who has won a medal at the Art Basel Award in Switzerland, is exhibiting paintings, photographs, installations and video works at the Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai.
Al-Faraj’s heritage is deeply tied to the land, a legacy vividly expressed in his art.
Raised in a farming family and born in the town of al-Ahsa, a lush oasis full of palm trees, Al-Faraj fills his canvases with motifs of nature.
His work often draws inspiration from local stories and oral traditions, and explores the relationship between humans, nature and the environment.
He uses a variety of materials in his work — ranging from indigenous elements such as palm fronds and dates to discarded objects. Each material carries a sense of meaning, memory and connection to time.
"You’ve got the palm fronds throughout the exhibition. You’ve got references to the desert, the different landscapes of where he lives," said arts curator Helena Davidson-Houston.
"His subjects are deeply personal, yet he engages with animals, plants and people alike," she added.
For Korean visitor Moyoung Kim, the artwork evoked a sense of familiarity and nostalgia.
The exhibition will run until Jan. 4 next year.
AP video shot by Bassam Hatoum
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/d2e4428a03b14f2ba7ba46b8c01fadef
Author: AP Archive
Go to Source
News post in July 22, 2025, 3:06 pm.
Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News Post In – News
