Book Review: Contemporary Kingdom, The Saudi Art Scene Now

Happy Saturday all
A while back, I wrote a post about the current artistic scene in Saudi and how it's blooming and getting more appreciation. You can find the post here. I recently purchased Contemporary Kingdom, and I have been reading it on and off, so I thought it's time to review it today.

This is a very good book that highlights the most known Saudi artists and their iconic pieces. It's written in English. The books starts with a collection of essays that talks about Saudi and the development of the arts and designs there. Followed by a chapter on artists that highlights 26 Saudi artists. Ten of them are Saudi females. Then comes a chapter on galleries, another on art and design initiatives, and a final ones on patrons. These three chapters make this book a great resource for starting artists. It's packed full of useful information and important names.

Snaps from the book

Snaps from the book

Snaps from the book

What I love about this book is that it shows you the creative minds in Saudi and give them the recognition they deserve. It shows a colourful and impressive part of the Saudi culture that isn't shared on the media.

Recommended!

You can buy your copy from the publisher online   

Everything Saudi: Intro

Saudi is one of the most mysterious countries EVER. There’s a huge question mark on it. Not only is Saudi unknown to the Western countries, but also it’s anonymous to the Eastern ones as well. It’s like a blank spot on the map. The more I meet new people, the more I discover how unknown my country is. Sometimes I even get asked; “where is that?” I just say do you know where Bahrain or Dubai is? And OF COURSE they do, and I just say it’s by there. It’s so funny how a tiny island like Bahrain is more known than Saudi.

You see that peninsula on the right? That's Saudi.  

No one really know what goes on in Saudi and how people function.  There are a lot of misconceptions about it; some are very offensive and others are hilarious.  I decided to write this blog section Everything Saudi to sum up all what I know. Plus, mom keeps pressuring me to write, so here it is!

Some cool pic from google

Bio:

I was born and raised in Saudi for 17 years by Saudi parents in the most typical Saudi city. After I graduated from high school, I got a scholarship to the United States to continue my further education.  Few years later, I came to the UK, and here I am blogging from London. *mashAllah*