The King Abdulaziz Middle for World Tradition (Ithra), a cultural establishment in Saudi Arabia’s Japanese Province, launched Horizon in Their Palms: Ladies Artists from the Arab World (Nineteen Sixties–Eighties) on 18 September 2025, on the Ithra Museum.
Introduced in collaboration with the Barjeel Artwork Basis, a distinguished UAE-based artwork initiative with an in depth assortment of recent and modern Arab artwork, the exhibition brings collectively 50 girls artists from throughout the Arab world whose work from the Nineteen Sixties to the Eighties performed an instrumental function in shaping the visible and cultural narratives of the area. Spanning generations, geographies, and actions, the exhibition shines a light-weight on how these pioneering artists used craft, custom, and innovation to increase the chances of creative expression.
Together with portray, sculpture, glass, brass, tapestry, ceramics, and combined media, the works on show discover themes of id, reminiscence, place, custom, and renewal. The myriad views introduced within the exhibition are formed by distinct cultural, political, and private contexts, providing new readings of recent Arab artwork historical past.
A number of the highlights embody works by:
- Safeya Binzagr (Saudi Arabia, 1940 – 2024): a pioneering Saudi Arabian artist who was the primary girl to have a solo artwork exhibition in Saudi Arabia.
- Mounirah Mosly (Saudi Arabia, 1954 – 2019): a Saudi Arabian plastic works artist and painter who usually labored with supplies like copper and palm tree fiber.
- Inji Efflatoun (Egypt, 1924–1989): a revolutionary artist and political activist whose vivid work converse to resistance and liberation. Her oil on canvas titled Ezba (1953) might be introduced on the exhibition.
- Chaibia Talal (Morocco, 1929–2004): an icon of North African artwork, celebrated for her colourful, expressive works rooted in rural mythology. The artist’s 1969 oil on canvas Août might be on view.
- Susan Hefuna (Egypt/Germany, b. 1962): a multimedia artist exploring id, city life, and cultural hybridity. The artist will current her ink stain on wooden work titled Al Sabr Gamil, dated 2007.
- Vera Tamari (Palestine, b. 1945): painter and ceramicist analyzing reminiscence, loss, and homeland. A ceramic aid titled Palestinian Ladies at Work (1979) might be a part of the exhibition.
From early modernists comparable to painter Zeinab Abd El Hamid (Egypt, 1919–2002) and painter and tapestry artist Safia Farhat (Tunisia, 1924–2004) to modern voices together with Mariam Al Fakhro (Bahrain, b. 1952) and Suad Al-Essa (Kuwait, b. 1943), the exhibition displays how Arab girls have actively formed the area’s evolving creative heritage.
“That includes the work of fifty seminal figures, Horizon in Their Palms revisits the contributions of ladies artists who challenged the very definition of artwork,” says Rémi Homs, curator of the exhibition. “The works look at how they engaged with the boundaries between artwork and craft, turning this intersection into fertile floor for essential reflection. What defines high-quality artwork? The place does the road fall between utilitarian and infrequently gendered types of craft and particular person creative expression? And the way can materiality itself change into a automobile for cultural and political commentary?” he provides.
“Horizon in Their Palms displays Ithra’s purpose to domesticate a thriving cultural ecosystem—one which contributes to preserving legacies, amplifying numerous voices, and galvanizing dialogue between previous, current, and future,” Farah Abushullaih, Head of the Ithra Museum. “By means of this institutional collaboration that foregrounds underrepresented narratives in Arab artwork, this exhibition is about to change into a milestone in Ithra’s ongoing mission of nurturing creativity and cultural dialogue throughout the area and past,” she provides.
The exhibition might be on view from 18 September 2025 till 14 February 2026, with ticketed entry to the museum gallery out there via reserving on the Ithra web site.
