While many of the artists worked in times of political upheaval, their pieces also highlight resilience, innovation and a willingness to experiment with both material and meaning.
Fifty pioneering women artists from across the Arab world are being celebrated in a major new exhibition at the Ithra Museum in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, highlighting their overlooked role in shaping modern Arab art between the 1960s and 1980s.
The show, “Horizon in Their Hands: Women Artists from the Arab World (1960s–1980s),” opened on Thursday and runs until February 14, 2026. It is staged in partnership with Sharjah’s Barjeel Art Foundation and curated by Rémi Homs.
Bringing together works in painting, sculpture, ceramics, tapestry, glass and mixed media, the exhibition seeks to redraw the history of Arab modernism by placing women at its centre.
Among the highlights are a 1953 oil on canvas, “Ezba,” by Egyptian revolutionary artist Inji Efflatoun, Moroccan painter Chaibia Talal’s exuberant “Août” (1969) and Palestinian ceramicist Vera Tamari’s “Palestinian Women at Work” (1979). Saudi pioneers also feature prominently, including the late Safeya Binzagr, the first woman to stage a solo exhibition in the kingdom and Mounirah Mosly, known for her work with palm fibre and copper.
“Featuring the work of 50 seminal figures, this exhibition revisits the contributions of women who challenged the very definition of art,” Homs said.
“The works examine how they engaged with the boundaries between art and craft, turning this intersection into fertile ground for critical reflection. What defines fine art? Where does the line fall between utilitarian and often gendered forms of craft and individual artistic expression? And how can materiality itself become a vehicle for cultural and political commentary?” he added.
The show spans multiple generations, from early modernists such as Egyptian painter Zeinab Abd el-Hamid and Tunisian artist Safia Farhat to later voices including Bahraini painter Mariam al-Fakhro and Kuwaiti artist Suad al-Essa.
Farah Abushullaih, head of the Ithra Museum, said the exhibition was part of the institution’s mission to amplify under-represented narratives in Arab art. “Through this collaboration, we are not only preserving legacies but also inspiring dialogue between past, present and future,” she said.
For Ithra, a flagship Saudi cultural centre backed by Aramco, the exhibition reinforces its position as a hub for cultural dialogue and creativity in the Gulf. For Barjeel, founded by Emirati collector Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, it is the latest in a series of international collaborations designed to bring modern and contemporary Arab art to global audiences.
While many of the artists worked in times of political upheaval, their pieces also highlight resilience, innovation and a willingness to experiment with both material and meaning. Whether through vibrant canvases, feminist-inflected craft, or explorations of memory and identity, the works on show tell the story of a region undergoing profound cultural transformation.
“Horizon in Their Hands” offers visitors a rare opportunity to see these narratives unfold side by side, in an exhibition that looks set to become a reference point in the rewriting of modern Arab art history.
