Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — A poster of Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman with the message of hope has caught the attention of many visitors to the "Nawat Al Fun Members" exhibition, which brought together 43 local and international artists at NWA Art Gallery on Saturday. The impressive poster was designed by Dutch artist Al-Jawhara. Al-Jawhara came to the Kingdom to visit her husband in Riyadh for 10 days but could not resist Saudi life and so since 2017 she has been living in the Kingdom. She said: "At the end of my short visit here in Saudi Arabia, I said to my husband ‘Honey, I want to stay'." When Al-Jawhara attended the opening of Nawat Al Fun Members exhibition, she spent about 10 minutes with every guest and each one of them was captivated by the beauty of the poster. Prior to the creation of the poster, Al-Jawhara was inspired by the famous "Obama Hope" poster. She said: "Since I started living here in the Kingdom, I really admired the Crown Prince who made so many changes in Saudi Arabia and working hard to achieve his Vision 2030. So, I wanted to help promote his greatness by producing an artwork for him." As a professional designer, Al-Jawhara's goal was to design a piece of artwork that would express her admiration for the Crown Prince. "I am truly happy to see the new changes here in Saudi Arabia especially the opportunities Saudi women have now. This country has so much to offer and I feel privileged to be here and witness this history," she said. "Looking for inspiration, the ‘Obama Hope' came to my mind and I started googling for an MBS version. I was baffled by the fact that many people came up with so many works but none on the Crown Prince and this, while he embodies the hope in many facets of life for his people. So, I made a silkscreen image myself and got such positive feedback. It finally ended up in a poster," she said. Al-Jawhara revealed that she found the photographic basis for her seven-color screen-printed design using Google Image Search. Al-Jawhara commenced the creation of the poster only last month, the illustration was completed in a short time and she sent it to production the following day. "I really appreciate the support I got from Khaled Al-Wael because without his company Al-Wael Printing I could not have finished my work — the ‘Hope' poster," she said. The expatriate artist from the Netherlands is married with three sons and her husband works in Riyadh. How did the Dutch artist get the Arabic name Al-Jawhara? She said: "Because of the difficulties to pronounce my old Dutch name, my friends from Riyadh decided to get me a Saudi name in order to communicate with me. So, they chose to call me Al-Jawhara and this is how it became my Saudi identity."
