Artworks featured at 21,39 in Ithra – in pictures

  • Text is an important part of the new 21,39 show. This neon work by Abdullah AlOthman greets visitors with the well-known saying 'In Al Balad, I encountered the Bride of the Red Sea'. The work refers to Jeddah, where 21,39 began. Now the exhibition is in Ithra for the first time.
    Text is an important part of the new 21,39 show. This neon work by Abdullah AlOthman greets visitors with the well-known saying 'In Al Balad, I encountered the Bride of the Red Sea'. The work refers to Jeddah, where 21,39 began. Now the exhibition is in Ithra for the first time.
  • Works on paper, a specialisation of the curator Venetia Porter, are an important subtheme of the show. Here, the poignant work by exiled Iraqi artist Sadik Kwaish Alfraji, of 'The Tree I Love at Abu Nuwas Street'.
    Works on paper, a specialisation of the curator Venetia Porter, are an important subtheme of the show. Here, the poignant work by exiled Iraqi artist Sadik Kwaish Alfraji, of 'The Tree I Love at Abu Nuwas Street'.
  • Bader Awwad AlBalawi has been chronicling the different people of North Khobar and the changes in the city, in interviews and photographs for his project The City's Alive.
    Bader Awwad AlBalawi has been chronicling the different people of North Khobar and the changes in the city, in interviews and photographs for his project The City's Alive.
  • Porter's research yields work that has been seen publicly before, such as this watercolour by the Saudi modernist Abdulhalim Radwi. Photo: Estate of Abdulhalim Radwi
    Porter's research yields work that has been seen publicly before, such as this watercolour by the Saudi modernist Abdulhalim Radwi. Photo: Estate of Abdulhalim Radwi
  • Emy Kat grew up in Jeddah but lives in France. He returned to Al Balad for a residency in 2012 and this group of local children introduced him, he says, to places in the Old Town even he didn't know about. He memorialises them in group and individual photos.
    Emy Kat grew up in Jeddah but lives in France. He returned to Al Balad for a residency in 2012 and this group of local children introduced him, he says, to places in the Old Town even he didn't know about. He memorialises them in group and individual photos.
  • Bashaer Hawsawi's family looked after pilgrims in Makkah. She made these collages of African fabric, bought in the Jeddah souq, and plastic brooms in reference to them.
    Bashaer Hawsawi's family looked after pilgrims in Makkah. She made these collages of African fabric, bought in the Jeddah souq, and plastic brooms in reference to them.
  • Inspired by the question of her 'makan', or significant place, Asma Bahmim makes a wall out of the crumbling coral foundations of Al Balad in Jeddah, tucking wishes into its cracks.
    Inspired by the question of her 'makan', or significant place, Asma Bahmim makes a wall out of the crumbling coral foundations of Al Balad in Jeddah, tucking wishes into its cracks.
  • Emy Kat says that when he was a child, he would take his bike and cycle through Al Balad. Later, he would hurry to get home so that his parents would not know he was lost in the labyrinth of the Old Town. This photo installation nods to that memory.
    Emy Kat says that when he was a child, he would take his bike and cycle through Al Balad. Later, he would hurry to get home so that his parents would not know he was lost in the labyrinth of the Old Town. This photo installation nods to that memory.
  • A beautiful presentation of dafatir and artists' books show the artistic variety in the form. Here, Dia al-Azzawi's 'For the Rail and Hamad and Other Poems by Muzaffar al-Nawab'.
    A beautiful presentation of dafatir and artists' books show the artistic variety in the form. Here, Dia al-Azzawi's 'For the Rail and Hamad and Other Poems by Muzaffar al-Nawab'.
  • In places, Porter's exhibition lays bare the artistic process, as in this drawing by Safeya Binzagr that is accompanied by the etching that preceded it. Photo: Darat Safeya Binzagr
    In places, Porter's exhibition lays bare the artistic process, as in this drawing by Safeya Binzagr that is accompanied by the etching that preceded it. Photo: Darat Safeya Binzagr
  • Mohammed Hammad creates an allegorical story in the short film 'Yallah, Yallah Beenah!' of a young boy on the verge of manhood, full of references to witchcraft as well as anime.
    Mohammed Hammad creates an allegorical story in the short film 'Yallah, Yallah Beenah!' of a young boy on the verge of manhood, full of references to witchcraft as well as anime.
  • Obadah Aljefri says this giant Moleskine notebook with its fantastical drawings also refers to his youth, when he grew up drawing. He pictures himself on the left-hand of the diptych. Porter's show is full of personal touches.
    Obadah Aljefri says this giant Moleskine notebook with its fantastical drawings also refers to his youth, when he grew up drawing. He pictures himself on the left-hand of the diptych. Porter's show is full of personal touches.
  • Imran Qureshi's large-scale painting 'Do You Remember Still, How It Was Once', is inspired by a disaster in his studio: termites had eaten away at one of his folded paintings, in a perfectly symmetrical pattern.
    Imran Qureshi's large-scale painting 'Do You Remember Still, How It Was Once', is inspired by a disaster in his studio: termites had eaten away at one of his folded paintings, in a perfectly symmetrical pattern.
  • Manal AlDowayan makes porcelain scrolls out of an Abbasid-era text of jurisprudence that her father had in his library, frustrating the viewer's desire for total knowledge of the work.
    Manal AlDowayan makes porcelain scrolls out of an Abbasid-era text of jurisprudence that her father had in his library, frustrating the viewer's desire for total knowledge of the work.