These days, life seems to quickly pass us by -hours at a time- with not a second to spare, not even to simply appreciate all that engulfs us. Yet, amidst the busyness of everyday, we neglect the wealth of beautiful creations deserving of recognition that besiege us all around. One such beautiful creation happens to be art, which in a country such as the K.S.A, tends to be smothered and suffocated, yet in between our gasps for creative air, scores of brilliant artists rose to exceptional success. Those artists became the legends who broke the obstacles to art that have allowed us to pursue our artistic dreams.

Celebrated artists like Safia Binzagr, Abdullah Idrees, Abdullah Hammas, Taha Al-Sabban, and many more, paved the way for other artists to indulge in their dreams. And, because of their eminent efforts, countless young artists chose to dig deeper in their pursuit of art just to be able to understand a hint of what these distinguished artists fought for and worked so hard to achieve.

In the late 196o’s, for instance, artist Safia Binzagr started taking part in the evolution of Saudi art. She is a famed painter that wonderfully recaptures Jeddah’s past in most of her paintings. At the turn of the century, her dreams came true and she opened ‘Darat Safia Binzagr’, which earned her the title of as one of Saudi Arabia’s first female pioneering artists.

If you have yet to visit her gallery, then it’s now the time, the collection houses hundreds of original artworks produced by the artist, early works to the most recent. Those four walls proudly preserve the strong heritage of Hejazi culture from marriage ceremonies, motherhood, to specific traditional costumes and jewelry.

Jeddawi’s are truly privileged to have a brush stroke as illustrative as Safia Binzagr’s educating us about our past. Mounirah A. Mosly, artist and friend, once said “I salute her [Safia Binzagr’s]sense of responsibility as a fellow citizen and artist who has contributed through public and private institutions to support the cultural and artistic movement in our country.

One can only admire her ceaseless ambition to revive our heritage and preserve it, and to make her art serve the cause of such heritage.In our country”