Ithra offers artists chance to share pandemic experience

The King Abdul Aziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) has launched its international COVID-19 Exhibit, a collection of thoughts, memories and reflections on people’s pandemic experience that can be expressed through art.

Ithra started accepting visitors again since the coronavirus lockdown ended, but the effects of the pandemic remain on people’s minds and in their everyday lives. The exhibit’s first phase is a virtual show highlighting obwelcome, jects that were particularly significant to members of the public during the pandemic. Submissions are being invited for the second phase of the project.

Examples of objects being sought include new works of art or images of objects of particular importance: A pen, a photo of loved ones or

Ithra is in Saudi Arabia but, as a leading center for global culture, we want to include people from around the world.

relatives, a diary, a musical instrument, a book or a note from a family member.

The second phase, in 2021, will include objects selected by curators from the online submissions. These will go on display at Ithra in Dhahran. Ithra’s head of museums, Laila Faddagh, said the exhibit was the perfect opportunity for the global community to tell their stories during a difficult and complicated time. “Art is about connecting people through culture ... but we connect maybe even more easily through common objects,” she said, adding that the exhibit was intended to be a forum for creativity and self-expression for everyone. “Ithra is in Saudi Arabia but, as a leading center for global culture, we want to include people from around the world. In the spirit of warmth and empathy — especially now during the pandemic — it is an opportunity to connect with everyone, from anywhere.”