Selma Roth Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – Ten graphic design students from Dar Al-Hakma College, who were carefully selected through applications, portfolios and interviews, have completed a community-based project in which they mentored 10 women from Jeddah's historic Al-Ruwais district. The project resulted in a unique photography exhibition held under the patronage of Makkah Emir Khaled Al-Faisal at Park Hyatt's Sohba Garden on Monday and Tuesday. During the 9-months project, each student taught photography to one of the women, most of which had never even held a camera. Besides these weekly photography instructions, the participants, which included four Saudis, one Filipina, two Yemenis, one Sudanese, and two Somali nationals, received English classes, art lectures, as well as lessons on public speaking and etiquette. The exhibition, entitled “Hekayat 10” or “The Story of 10”, showed the 40 best images and gave an interesting glance into the lives of these 10 women from Al-Ruwais, a district in the heart of Jeddah that had not been documented yet. “I wanted to show my life through the pictures,” commented Nehal Al-Harbi, 23 years and one of the participants, on a colorful photo of men celebrating at a pre-wedding party. “Despite the many nationalities all are showing their support,” the Saudi, who lives with her parents and siblings, explained. This observation of brotherly support and friendship among neighbors and people of different nationalities living in Al-Ruwais was repeated by several other women. “I loved living in Ruwais. The girls are safe,” said Hayat Ali, a 30-year-old Somali woman who lived in the neighborhood for 24 years but recently moved to another neighborhood for work. “Of course,” she answered when asked if she missed Al-Ruwais. “People are very social. The rich and the poor come together in one place.” She often returns to visit her aunt and family in the neighborhood. Samar Al-Amari one of the ten women taking part in the project said that photography is her hobby since she was six years old and she always wanted to develop it. “This project gave me a great opportunity to make a connection between my hobby, my life and my memories in Al-Ruwaise,” she said. According to Al-Amari, the camera has helped her see her district in a different way. “Today I am an architect student and I hope I will relate between my hobby and career in the future,” she added. The person who came up with the unique idea is Zainab Odunsi, graphic design instructor at Dar Al-Hekma. In recognition of her creativity and efforts in carrying out the project, she received a price for the best corporate social responsibility program ever at Dar Al-Hekma College, Suhair Al-Qurashi, dean and president of the college, said. “I came up with the idea when I visited Al-Ruwaise as part of a charity project with a group of Dar Al-Hekma Students to distribute food supplies and toys,” she said. After she visited the district, Odunsi thought of something that would benefit the society, and hence the idea of an art exhibition for Al-Ruwaise women was born. The opening on Monday (Dec. 17) had more than 300 visitors, and the second and last day certainly exceeded that. During the day, the exhibition was open for schools. Several participants brought their family members to proudly show them their work. “My brothers and cousins, niece and nephew”, who all came to see the exhibition, “are really happy and proud,” said Ashwag Al Muwallad. The 30-year-old Saudi said her family was positively surprised about the images she and the other women shot. “They didn't expect this from us.” In one of her photos, Al Muwallad showed the beauty of a broken window, while other pictures at the exhibition showed daily activities like a man selling vegetables, the laundry hanging to dry on a rooftop terrace, old blue wooden doors, or a group of men socializing at a ‘markaz', an often covered place adjacent to a house where men gather and drink coffee. The college's architecture department also contributed to the exhibition, decorating the garden with typical artifacts from Al-Ruwais – from old chairs to empty bottles and from wooden doors to “roshan” balcony parts. They also designed the beams to showcase the photographs and created several corners screening the project's various phases.
