Hijabi Pop Art Collection - The Evolution of Traditional Dress and Culture

Pop art has always represented the image so familiar that nobody sees it any more. The hijab has been painted a thousand times from the outside perspective, and a painting made from assumption holds no light. These representations wee not reflective of my experience across fifteen years of living in Saudi Arabia, working alongside professional women who were, without exception, formidable.

It begins with Batoola Girl. The gold leather mask was born of function, shielding the sun from the eyes and protecting the skin from wind-whipped sand. Function mistaken for restriction, when it was nothing of the sort.

What follows is a pivotal decade in the Kingdom, with the abaya and hijab outwardly reflecting the change during this period. The old and the new hang by a hot pink thread, woven tightly into tradition yet bursting at the seam of a new era. The colour intensifies and the connection moves with it, from inside the frame to out past the edge of the canvas; is the viewer looking in, or are the women here to observe you? Islamic geometry is interspersed through the collection, reflecting the foundation of stability through rapid change.

It closes with Space Pop, the portrait of Rayyanah Barnawi. Nine years in cancer stem cell research, a master's taken with first class honours, and then the first Saudi and Arab woman in space, wearing her hijab there. She was presented with this portrait in person at a gala dinner held in her honour.

Each piece carries a hidden augmented reality layer, accessible through the free ARTIVIVE app, bringing sound, movement and dimension earning this work's groundbreaking honor to be first AR collection created in Saudi Arabia, reflecting that women across cultures, are not two-dimensional, and neither is this work.

Selected by NOFA Resort, a Radisson Collection Hotel, for the 2023 Saudi National Day Exhibition. Currently on display at Al Khozama Hotel, KAUST. Sold out.