[gallery td_select_gallery_slide="slide" td_gallery_title_input="Art and documentary at DAH" ids="32283,32284,32285"] JEDDAH — Art collection from French artist Magali Jeantelot was on display at the premier of Dar Al-Hekma University's Asir documentary this week. During the academic year, the university lead a project in Asir now featured in the documentary screened during the Asir Spirit exhibition that was followed by a workshop entitled "Diving within Spirit of Painted Houses." Suhair Hassan Al-Qurashi, president of Dar Al-Hekma said the university exposes its students to international learning opportunities but does not forget the local responsibilities and traditions. Asir is one of the richest heritage regions in the Kingdom. Giving our student an opportunity to work with this project not only gave them a chance to give back to their community but it also introduced them to part of their country that they did not know," she said. The university's architecture department in partnership with the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTNH) launched "Reinventing the Vernacular" in Al-Okaz Village in Asir region at the start of last year. The research project looked at Asir as a signature region for progressive preservation, and the documentary that came out of the project aimed at inspiring more people to replicate the experience. "The workshop and exhibition are an inspiration for our students to be more creative in reviving our Saudi heritage, caring about our heritage is not a message directed to Dar Al-Hekma students but to all Saudis," Dean of students, Sanaa Askool, said. Magali Jeantelot's current works focuses on Asir's pictorial art, especially that of the painted houses in the village of Rijal. "The painting on those buildings in Thierry Mauger's book and Ahmad Abu Dahman's novel Al-Hezam were the two things that opened the doors of Saudi Arabia for me," said Jeantelot. "To see those buildings in a movie, to re-meet Mauger and to meet Ahmad Abu Dahman in the documentary was very moving. Seeing those buildings in a movie is different from still pictures and one day I will see them with my own eyes," she said.
