Symbolic Manifestation of Saudi Women

The use of symbols in visual art is a technique which has been handed down overgenerations. In contemporary art, it has had a particular resonance, particularly insocieties where limits are imposed on a particular demographic, within legalregimes which do not guarantee the right to free expression, or under censorship.But the political and social movements, indeed, the changes which have taken placein the religious sphere with regard to women in Saudi Arabia over the last ten years,have made their struggle itself into a symbol, and its artistic expression throughsymbols into a rich source for analytic readings.The current study discusses the use of symbols in Saudi art in general throughexamples of Saudi women artists who depict either directly or through symbols theSaudi women’s issues, either as individuals in the community or through personalexpression within social, familial or even personal restrictions. It focuses on theexperiences of the Saudi artist Manal al-Dowayan and two young artists whograduated from the Visual Arts Department at the College of Art and Design atPrincess Noura Bint Abdulrahman University, one of the largest women’suniversities in the world, whose work was prepared under the supervision of thearts program at the university. The pieces move beyond the artistic monotony oftwo-dimensional work to multi-dimensional work making use of a range ofmaterials and techniques, which discuss social issues or issues relating to women inparticular without fear of educational, social or political censorship through the useof symbolism. They cast light on the importance of the use of symbols as an artisticmeans of expression in societies subject to limitations on freedom of thatexpression, or for artists with anti-social characters, and on the role of symbolicstyle in extending the freedom of artists to be creative through symbols instead ofbeing trapped intellectually within social limits.