{"id":55832,"date":"2025-04-19T07:04:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T07:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/princess-rajwa-prince-hussein-visit-historic-site-in-jordan\/"},"modified":"2025-04-19T07:04:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T07:04:00","slug":"princess-rajwa-prince-hussein-visit-historic-site-in-jordan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=55832","title":{"rendered":"Princess Rajwa, Prince Hussein visit historic site in Jordan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tDUBAI: Saudi Arabia\u2019s cultural scene is becoming increasingly significant both inside and outside of the Gulf region, with the Kingdom\u2019s artists being collected by prestigious international institutions and fetching impressive prices at auction.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tBut a common gripe is that there is little archival material on those creatives who, decades ago \u2014 and without any of the institutional support the current generation now enjoy \u2014 built careers for themselves and inspired those who came after them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tIn his documentary \u201cWhen the Light Shines,\u201d which screens at the Saudi Film Festival today, Saudi filmmaker Ryan Al-Bishri reveals one long-running initiative that bucks that trend. Layan Culture was officially established in 2007 by Prince Faissal bin Abdullah bin Mohammad Al-Saud and Princess Adelah bint Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, but stems from decades-long support for artists and creators from its founders.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t
\n\t\tFilmmaker Ryan Al-Bishri. (Dhasha Productions)<\/figcaption>
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\n\tLayan is an archive, a collective, an \u201cart-concept creator\u201d and much more. It celebrates, promotes and is a patron of Saudi creatives. Its website states that its vision is also to \u201cnurture artistic appreciation in the minds and hearts of the Saudi people.\u201d However, despite its significance, Layan Culture is little-known, even inside the Kingdom. Al-Bishri hopes to change that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tAl-Bishri was first introduced to Prince Faissal through his father, the fashion designer Yahya Al-Bishri.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI heard a lot of the stories through my father, of course. And then from Prince Faissal himself. And whenever they talked about it, it was just like \u2018Wow!\u2019 Stories I\u2019d never heard \u2014really interesting stuff from back in the 1960s,\u201d Al-Bishri tells Arab News.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tA few of those stories \u2014 of trips overseas or to then-rarely visited areas of Saudi Arabia as the prince and his friends attempted to gather information about the Kingdom\u2019s artistic and cultural heritage \u2014 made it into \u201cWhen the Light Shines.\u201d Indeed, Al-Bishri says, one in particular was the spark for the whole project.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tIn the 1960s, American artist, photographer and explorer Gerhardt Liebmann entered Saudi Arabia through Yemen. \u201cHe just walked in \u2014 no visa or nothing \u2014 and started painting,\u201d says Al-Bishri. Eventually, Liebmann was discovered by the authorities and deported.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t \n\t\tLayan Culture\u2019s managing director Ghada AlTobaishi (R) and art director Mazen Tarabishi. (Courtesy of Dhasha Productions)<\/figcaption>
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\n\tYears later, Prince Faissal and others were on a trip to Geneva. As they were walking past one of its many art galleries, the prince spotted a painting of a mosque minaret. The gallery provided the name of the artist (yes, Liebmann) and Prince Faissal reached out to him. In 1981, Liebmann returned to the Kingdom. The minaret, it turned out, was that of a mosque in Taif. Over the next few years, until Liebmann\u2019s death in 1985, the artist visited regularly, painting portraits of some of the Kingdom\u2019s rulers and its landmarks. Those works form part of Layan Culture\u2019s extensive collection related to Saudi Arabia, much of which the organization has restored, and much of which has never been on public display.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen putting the documentary together, Al-Bishri was himself left bemoaning the lack of material available from the 20th century. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of archive we wish we had,\u201d he says. \u201cLike, if there was any footage of Gerhardt and his journey and the people around him, that would have been really incredible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tFortunately, Al-Bishri did have access to Prince Faissal\u2019s personal footage. \u201cHe had a team around him who filmed, and we had to gather everything we could to get this together. As you see in the film, everyone is really down-to-earth and welcoming. They never had any formalities about anything. Even the prince himself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThat footage makes up some of the documentary\u2019s most joyous scenes \u2014 including a camping trip to the Empty Quarter \u2014\u202fin which you really get a sense of the camaraderie between this handful of people trying to create a lasting cultural legacy. As Al-Bishri\u2019s father says in the film, \u201cAcross the Kingdom, there were only individual efforts by people, and only a few who were willing to support these few artists.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThose words are echoed on screen by artist, sculptor and photographer Dr. Dia Aziz Dia, who was given a scholarship to study art in Italy, but on his return, he says, \u201cI was surprised that society wasn\u2019t ready to embrace art.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe prince connected a lot of people together. Without that, you\u2019ve lost that sense of community. A lot of people might have given up,\u201d says Al-Bishri. \u201cEspecially at a time where everyone was telling you what you\u2019re doing is wrong. You know, my father got that for a long time: \u2018This is not right, what you\u2019re doing is very wrong.\u2019 But finding a group of people who are there to support you, as an artist, was incredible. Now we have that, of course, the government, the ministries\u2026 all of this change, it\u2019s wonderful. But it kind of feels like it misses the people before this \u2014 the people who fought, who struggled. We have to talk about them too. They started this. I want this film to bring people to Layan Culture so they can really appreciate the work that they\u2019ve done.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tIt certainly seems to have done that. Since its premiere at the Red Sea International Film Festival late last year, \u201cWhen the Light Shines\u201d \u2014 the title alludes to Prince Faissal\u2019s feeling that now was the time to make some more noise about the work of Layan Culture \u2014 has won Best Film at the Munich New Wave Film Festival and been officially selected to compete at Mexico City\u2019s Mirada Corta Short Film Festival, East Village New York Film Festival, and the Florence Film Awards, as well as appearing at several other festivals. And Al-Bishri hopes his short documentary will spawn a television series.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThere are so many stories that we discovered that even a feature-length film wouldn\u2019t be enough,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat we want to do is make a short film about each artist where they talk about their journey. I think that would be great.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tHis goal is a simple one.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI want people to recognize the amount of work these people have put in. They sacrificed a lot and they had to fight a lot of people \u2014 a lot of family \u2014 just to do what they love,\u201d he says. \u201cA lot of these artists \u2014 a lot of these communities \u2014 were very quiet before and maybe they got used to that. But I think it\u2019s very important that they should not be forgotten.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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