Sarah Al Abdali

Sarah Al Abdali is a Saudi Arabian artist, born in Jeddah in 1989. Her family originally comes from the Land of Hejaz also known as the holy land of Islam where both holy cities Mecca and Medina are located.

Al Abdali is recognized today as one of the first Saudi street artists, since street art (that was not vandalization) was very rare in the socially conservative country.

She starts all her tagging walks in the neighborhood where her family once had homes in the Balad (old city of Jeddah). She would love to listen to the conversations that her stencil work spark but she also loves the feeling of a rush while tagging so she always runs away after spraying a wall.

Growing up, she was infused with the culture, history, and architecture of the land of Hejaz and had such deep fondness for it that she felt almost an obligation towards it; this culture being increasingly erased by the speedy urbanization of the two cities became a cause for her concern and a central theme in her art.

The artist studied graphic design at Dar Al Hekma College and then went on to pursue a two-year Master’s program at the Prince’s School of Traditional Art in London. During those two years, Al Abdali had the opportunity to learn the various techniques of traditional Islamic art. She had since held on to traditions such as Persian miniature painting, wood and plaster carving, tile making, calligraphy and pattern making, as well as gypsum sculpting, and they are present in most of her work. The artist feels these are the designs that enriched the landscape of old Hejaz and anticipates to work with local craftsmen in the hopes of reviving these aesthetics versus the modern aesthetics.

Nostalgia and holding on to tradition, however, are not the artist’s only subjects. Al Abdali is also interested in spreading awareness on other social issues that affect Saudi Arabian daily life as well as other humanitarian matters (the Palestinian struggle, etc.). She understands the dangers of freely expressing her ideas in her country, especially when they denounce issues such as gender inequality, religion or the politics of development.

Therefore, she explores various and subtle ways of communicating her ideas using her formation in the field of design which, in its essence is the art of finding solutions to communicate an idea visually all the while pleasing the viewer’s eye.

Written by Nathalie Bsat © Dalloul Art Foundation