Dhahran – Asdaf News:
The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), an initiative of Saudi Aramco, has announced the opening of the exhibition showcasing the shortlisted artworks for the seventh edition of the Ithra Art Prize. As one of the Middle East’s largest art awards, launched by the Center in 2017 and held biennially, the prize aims to support contemporary art across the Arab world by providing a vital platform for participating artists. The award offers a financial grant to shortlisted artists, providing them with the means and a global platform to showcase ambitious new works, while building bridges of cultural dialogue through diverse art practices.
The winning piece will also be added to Ithra’s permanent collection.
The exhibition, which opened this week, is hosted at Ithra and highlights the practices of Aseel AlYaqoub, Bady Dalloul, Heba Y. Amin Elmahamly, Ala Younis, and Jawad Al Malhi. Spanning installation, painting, textile, and conceptual practices, the works reflect deep intellectual engagement and a strong responsiveness to historical, cultural, and material contexts.
Farah Abushullaih, Head of Museum at Ithra, said: “This exhibition reflects the Ithra Art Prize’s continued evolution as a platform for artistic production and dialogue. By presenting all shortlisted works together, we aim to offer audiences a deeper engagement with the ideas, processes, and perspectives shaping contemporary art across the region.”
The exhibition marks a significant milestone in the journey of the Ithra Art Prize, bringing together for the first time all shortlisted works under a single public platform. Hosted in Ithra, Dhahran, it fosters meaningful exchange between regional and international audiences while supporting the development of the participating artists’ creative practices and enriching their artistic legacies.
The featured works include:
- Aseel AlYaqoub (Kuwait), Flora Incognita, 2026, a herbarium of hybrid desert plants examining how systems of botanical classification have shaped and distorted knowledge in the Gulf.
- Bady Dalloul (Syria), Drawing in Matchboxes, 2026, a series of miniature matchbox drawings reflecting on the ways images influence lived histories and collective memory.
- Heba Y. Amin Elmahamly (Egypt), The Last Carrier: Iteration I, 2026, a textile-based reinterpretation of an 18th-century engraving of the Egyptian mahmal procession, reclaiming a colonial image through collaborative making.
- Ala Younis (Jordan), Lifted Arches, 2026, an installation inspired by Minoru Yamasaki’s architectural works in Dhahran and Riyadh, exploring light, modularity, and exchanges between Islamic architectural traditions and modernism.
- Jawad Al Malhi (Palestine), Ashes of Absence, 2026, a mixed-media painting series depicting ghost-like figures to explore disappearance, loss, and fragile traces of presence.
The shortlisted artists were selected by an international jury of art experts spanning curatorial, academic, and artistic fields. The jury includes Farah Abushullaih, Head of Museum at Ithra; Tarek Abou El Fetouh, independent curator and artistic director; Dr. Nada Shabout, art historian and professor at the University of North Texas; Jérôme Sans, curator and co-founder of Palais de Tokyo; and Nadia Kaabi-Linke, artist and recipient of the 4th Ithra Art Prize.
The exhibition will culminate in the announcement of the winning artist, whose artwork will join Ithra’s permanent collection, in October 2026.
The Ithra Art Prize encourages artistic innovation in the region. The initiative reflects Ithra’s support of transformative creative practices that redefine boundaries, spark impactful artistic exchange, and spotlight unique perspectives on our rapidly evolving cultural landscape.
