Echoes of the Familiar, an exhibition examining the idea of “home” through contemporary artistic practices in Saudi Arabia is on view at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra). Curated by curator Gaida AlMogren, the exhibition brings together 28 artworks by 28 Saudi artists, including 17 new commissions developed specifically for this presentation.
Structured as a passage through a traditional Saudi home, the exhibition unfolds across a sequence of conceptual spaces: The Building, The Living Room, The Kitchen, The Hallway of Memories, The Bedroom, and The People of the Home. Each setting functions as a framework through which artists reflect on domestic environments as sites where memory, identity, and social relations are formed and negotiated.
The works engage with everyday gestures and rituals; shared meals, family gatherings, inherited habits, translating these familiar experiences into contemporary visual languages. Drawing on personal recollection as well as collective memory, the exhibition considers how domestic life shaped Saudi society throughout the twentieth century and how these influences continue to resonate amid social and cultural change.
As visitors move through the exhibition, they encounter layered narratives of belonging and transformation. Childhood objects, domestic materials, and architectural references are reconfigured to explore how notions of privacy, tradition, and aspiration evolve across generations. Rather than presenting home as a fixed place, the exhibition frames it as a fluid space shaped by movement, adaptation, and continuity.
Echoes of the Familiar brings together immersive installations, digital media, and multi-sensory works that connect heritage with contemporary culture. By situating individual experiences within a shared domestic framework, the exhibition offers a space to reflect on how personal histories intersect with broader social narratives, positioning home as both a point of origin and an ongoing process of becoming.
Location: Ithra, KSA
Date: 30 October 2025 until 26 September 2026