JAZAN — A group of young Saudi women are engaged in tapping their talent and caliber in reviving the rich heritage of Al-Dair governorate in the southern Jazan province through various art forms. They recreated ancient castles and forts, cylindrical houses, and traditional costumes in the form of replicas, paintings and photographs, featuring the unique identity of the region's culture and heritage. Immediately after establishing their team titled "Words and Colors" two years ago, the 38-member women's team embarked on a big mission of publicizing its goals on the one hand and showcasing outstanding works of arts on the other. Over the past two years, the team has made outstanding contributions in skillfully employing various art forms to serve Al-Dair and introducing its heritage, archeology and social customs. This is in addition to highlighting its ancient farming patterns, especially coffee cultivation, with embodying the great love of the local people for the ancient coffee tree, through artistic works that varied between realistic and abstract paintings, creative handicrafts and photography. According to Sarah Al-Maliki, leader of the team, the women members were able to promote the team's goals, to be an effective development partner, in the field of Al-Dair's education, media, tourism and economic sectors, and to produce works of art that highlight the ancient heritage on the one hand and articulate the requirements of the modern era on the other. Al-Maliki pointed to the huge response for the National Day Exhibition, organized by the team, as it embodied the great love of the homeland. They also organized specialized practical training courses for girl students and arts festival for women. She noted that the team's participation in the annual coffee festival last year was a quantum leap, mainly because of the display of their works of art. Al-Malki said that the team also organized a fine arts competition titled "Jazan: the past and present", and that was in cooperation with the branch of the Culture and Arts Association of Jazan. There was a tremendous response from male and female artists in the region to attend the contest that focused the artistic works dealt with the old lifestyles of Jazan and its cultural and social format as well as paintings highlighting the present and features of development in the region. This reflected the team's quest to harness the art to highlight the region's overall wealth and natural, cultural and social heritage. She noted that Al-Dair Governor Naif Bin Nasser has entrusted her team to carry out a mural drawing work, in cooperation with Al-Dair municipality. The ten-meter-long and two-meter wide mural was aimed to improve the urban landscape by decorating the walls with diverse art forms and drawings reflecting the region's history, civilization and heritage, and specially highlighting agricultural harvest, and pastoral landscape. The team's future plans and programs include enhance the team's abilities to be a platform for developing talent and skills of young artists through holding specialized training and exhibitions besides ensuring their participation in large festivals.
