Fragrant tradition: Taif rose oil production season begins
Local farmer gives insights on production involving up to 550m roses annually
Meticulous process yields fragrant rose oil and rose water, both of which are widely used for perfuming, culinary applications and other purposes
Updated 07 April 2025
Arab News
JEDDAH: The production season for Tola, the renowned Taif rose oil, has begun in Saudi Arabia.
Almost 70 factories and workshops are now operating across the high peaks of Taif’s mountains, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The traditional distillation process is followed to extract and produce more than 80 derivatives of the Taif rose, which enjoy widespread popularity in local and international markets.
The region’s farms produce more than 550 million roses annually, making Tola a distinctive cultural and economic symbol.
According to local farmer Khalaf Al-Tuwairqi, families in the past began rose picking at dawn.
He learned the art of distillation from his father, who had established a traditional workshop on their farm.
In an interview with the SPA, Al-Tuwairqi said that Tola is extracted immediately after harvesting, with 80,000 to 100,000 roses placed each day into special copper pots. The quantity depends on the pot’s capacity and is measured using a scale.
The process begins by lighting a fire beneath the pot to produce steam, which passes through a pipe in the pot’s lid and into a container of water.
This cools and condenses the vapor into droplets, which then flow into a narrow-necked bottle known as “talqiyah,” capable of holding 20 to 35 liters.
The pure rose oil floats at the top of this container.
Al-Tuwairqi added that his ancestors mastered the techniques of rose oil extraction, with one Tola requiring about 70,000 roses.
Traditionally, this was done using fire pits built inside mud-brick structures ranging from one to three meters in length and about one meter in height.
The vapor from rose petals was condensed into liquid form, which dripped into a glass container. The resulting oil was then bottled in small glass vials.
The meticulous process yields fragrant rose oil and rose water, both of which are widely used for perfuming, culinary applications and other purposes.
Met returns looted Mesopotamian artifacts to Iraq after investigation
Updated 20 May 2025
Arab News
DUBAI: Three ancient Mesopotamian artifacts once housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York have been returned to Iraq after an investigation into art trafficking linked to the late British antiquities dealer Robin Symes, authorities announced on Monday.
The return was confirmed in statements by the Met and the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which led the criminal investigation. The artifacts — a Sumerian gypsum vessel from about 2600-2500 BC and two Babylonian ceramic heads dated about 2000-1600 BC — were among 135 looted antiquities linked to Symes and seized earlier this year.
According to The New York Times, the male head sculpture was sold to the Met by Symes in 1972, while the female head and the Sumerian vessel were gifts from a private collection in 1989. All three are believed to have originated from ancient Mesopotamian sites, including Isin and Ur, now in modern-day Iraq.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. said the seizure and return are part of broader efforts to undo the “significant damage traffickers have caused to our worldwide cultural heritage.”
The repatriation was formalized in a ceremony in Lower Manhattan attended by Iraqi officials and Met representatives. The museum said that it had acted upon “new information” received through the DA’s investigation that clarified the artifacts’ illicit provenance.
Authorities estimate the value of the 135 items trafficked through Symes and recovered in New York at $58 million.
Lyna Khoudri-starring film ‘Eagles of the Republic’ premieres at Cannes
Updated 20 May 2025
Arab News
DUBAI: French Algerian actress Lyna Khoudri’s film “Eagles of the Republic” premiered this week at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, and it received a coveted standing ovation following the screening.
Directed by Swedish Egyptian filmmaker Tarik Saleh, the film is the final chapter in his acclaimed “Cairo Trilogy,” which includes “The Nile Hilton Incident” (2017) and “Boy From Heaven” (2022), the latter earning him the Best Screenplay award at Cannes.
Set in Cairo, “Eagles of the Republic” follows George El-Nabawi, a fading movie star who reluctantly agrees to play a role in a political biopic.
(L-R) Alexandre Desplat, Lyna Khoudri, Amr Waked, Sherwan Haji and Tarik Saleh at the premiere. (Getty Images)
Khoudri portrays Donya, a journalist who becomes entangled in the political intrigue surrounding the film’s protagonist, Fahmy.
The movie also features Swedish Lebanese actor Fares Fares — a longtime collaborator of Saleh — in the lead role, alongside French Moroccan actress Zineb Triki as Suzanne, the Western-educated wife of Egypt’s defence minister, and Egyptian actor Amr Waked as presidential adviser Dr. Mansour.
For the premiere, Khoudri wore a sculptural strapless Chanel dress featuring a voluminous skirt, a structured bodice, and folded detailing along the neckline. The gown was cinched at the waist and flared into pleats. She completed the look with white open-toe heels and a sleek bun.
She attended the premiere alongside Saleh, Waked, French film composer and conductor Alexandre Desplat, and Kurdish Finnish actor, filmmaker and writer Sherwan Haji, who also stars in the film.
Khoudri, 32, first rose to prominence in her role as Nedjma in Mounia Meddour’s critically acclaimed drama “Papicha.” For her work in the film, she won the Orizzonti Award for best actress at the 74th Venice Film Festival, and she was nominated in the Cesar Awards’ most promising actress category.
Khoudri also starred in the 2019 mini-series “Les Sauvages” and in 2016’s “Blood on the Docks.”
She was also cast in Wes Anderson’s 2021 comedy “The French Dispatch” alongside Timothee Chalamet, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton and Owen Wilson.
The actress also stars in Martin Bourboulon’s Afghanistan evacuation drama “In The Hell Of Kabul: 13 Days, 13 Nights,” alongside Danish Bafta-winning “Borgen” star Sidse Babett Knudsen, Roschdy Zem (“Chocolat,” “Oh Mercy!”), and theater actor Christophe Montenez.
Key reflections as Jeddah’s Islamic Arts Biennale comes to a close
Updated 20 May 2025
Jasmine Bager
JEDDAH: As the second Islamic Arts Biennale prepares for its finale on May 25, Donya Abdulhadi, the executive director of marketing and communications at the Diriyah Biennale Foundation says its true achievement lies not only in visitor numbers, but in the cultural and educational legacy it continues to build.
“The Islamic Arts Biennale was ranked as one of the most highly visited biennales in 2023, but it is the cultural impact, influence and legacy of our work that matters the most to us,” she told Arab News.
The foundation — which oversees the Islamic Arts Biennale, the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, and JAX District — alternates annually between its two flagship biennales: the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale, held in Riyadh’s JAX District, and the Islamic Arts Biennale, staged at the Western Hajj Terminal in Jeddah.
Launched in 2023, the Islamic Arts Biennale is the first biennale in the world dedicated to Islamic arts.
The debut Islamic Arts Biennale welcomed over 600,000 visitors, while the second edition of the Contemporary Art Biennale saw more than double the attendance of its first iteration and a 600 percent increase in digital engagement, according to organizers.
Abdulhadi explained that the foundation measures success through cultural impact. “We assess our impact through several factors, including our success in nurturing creative expression and lifelong learning,” she said.
The foundation has seen a significant rise in institutional collaboration, too. Since the launch of its biennales, the number of partner institutions lending cultural and historical works has tripled. In turn, the number of total loans to exhibitions has nearly doubled.
Among the highlights of this iteration was the unprecedented display of rare objects such as items from the Vatican Apostolic Libraries shown alongside the Kiswah, the covering that adorns the Kaaba in Makkah.
Between editions, the foundation remains active through initiatives such as “PlayBack,” a digital audio archive of past programming, and “PaperBack,” Saudi Arabia’s first art book fair, which welcomed more than 10,000 visitors last year.
“Supporting generations of artists and creatives remains one of the most important ways in which we deliver cultural impact as a foundation,” she continued. “Our Biennales and the JAX District act as springboards for Saudi and international artists to be invited to the world’s most prestigious stages, but also as platforms for artists to evolve their own roles as creatives,” she concluded.
Guerlain names Mohammed Hindash first Middle East makeup ambassador
Updated 17 May 2025
Arab News
DUBAI: French beauty house Guerlain this week appointed Dubai-based celebrity makeup artist and entrepreneur Mohammed Hindash as its first-ever regional makeup ambassador for the Middle East.
Hindash, founder of the makeup brand Hindash Cosmetics, has worked with a roster of international and regional celebrities. His clientele includes Naomi Campbell, Lindsay Lohan, Chanel Iman, Natalia Vodianova, Rahma Riadh, Yusra Mardini, Nancy Ajram, Mona Zaki, Dana Hourani and Mona Kattan. He also did Queen Rania of Jordan’s makeup for the royal wedding of Crown Prince Hussein and Princess Rajwa in 2023.
He took to Instagram to write: “My chapter with @guerlain represents more than just beauty, it embodies timeless innovation rooted in heritage.
“I’m beyond thrilled to be announced as their first makeup ambassador in the Middle East as I showcase Guerlain through my lens and artistry,” he added. “I have immersed myself in the rich history of the Maison, and I can’t wait to narrate the story on my models’ faces.”
Landmark exhibition ‘Layered Medium’ brings six decades of Korean art to the GCC
Updated 16 May 2025
Shyama Krishna Kumar
DUBAI: The first large-scale showcase of contemporary Korean art in the Gulf Cooperation Council region, “Layered Medium: We Are in Open Circuits – Contemporary Art from Korea, 1960s to Today,” promises to be a transformative experience for audiences in the Middle East.
Co-curated by Maya El-Khalil of the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation and Yeo Kyung-hwan of the Seoul Museum of Art, the exhibition brings together a sweeping collection of artworks that explore the evolution of Korean contemporary art from its roots in the 1960s to the present day.
Held at the Abu Dhabi art gallery Manarat Al-Saadiyat from May 16 to June 30, the exhibition marks a historic cultural bridge between Korea and the region, offering insights into how Korean artists have responded to shifts in political landscapes, technological advancements, and the complexities of modernity.
Ayoung Kim, Still image from Delivery Dancer's Sphere, 2022, single-channel video, 25 min. (Courtesy of the artist)
“This exhibition is a testament to the power of art to transcend boundaries and ignite conversations across cultures,” said El-Khalil to Arab News. “It’s an opportunity for audiences to witness the dynamism and resilience of Korean art over decades of transformation.”
El-Khalil drew on her first experiences in Seoul, which she described as a “moment of discovery.” For her, the city revealed what she called “productive contradictions”: an art scene that was deeply specific to its context but spoke to universal experiences of urbanization, globalization, and technological change.
“This tension between specificity and universality became central to our curatorial approach. Rather than trying to explain Korean art, we wanted to create frameworks that would allow audiences to encounter works through shared experiences of inhabiting our rapidly shifting, technologically mediated worlds,” El-Khalil said.
Ayoung Kim, Installation view of Delivery Dancer's Sphere (2022) from the exhibition "What an Artificial World (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art,
Cheongju, Korea, 2024)." (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Photography Hong Choelki)
The exhibition begins with the immediate sensory experiences of the body, intersecting with social constructs of gender, nationality, and identity. From there it connects to cultural narratives of history and tradition before engaging with contemporary spatial realities of rapid urbanisation and precarious ecologies. It begins with its experimental phases in the 1960s, moving through the politically charged works of the 1980s, and culminating in the boundary pushing digital and multimedia explorations of today.
Yeo explained the curatorial decision. “We experience reality through our bodies, our social structures, and our physical and virtual terrains. By organizing the exhibition through this expanded sense of medium — as atmospheres of meaning-making — we created a framework that reflects circuits of experience: from our immediate bodily presence to our social relationships, to our navigation of built environments striated with power and control.”
Among the standout works are installations that challenge conventional perceptions of space and time, multimedia projects that intertwine Korean folklore with digital storytelling, and large-scale sculptures that articulate the tension between tradition and innovation. El-Khalil spoke of parallels between Seoul and Abu Dhabi, citing rapid urbanization and globalization as shared narratives.
“Both cities are the product of rapid, accelerated development, each environment a remarkable narrative of transformation, though the stories are quite distinct: South Korea emerging after war and poverty, while the UAE grew quickly thanks to a clear vision and the discovery of natural resources,” she said.
“What’s really interesting is how artists in both places respond to similar changes like urbanisation or globalisation but from different cultural perspectives. Even though these changes seem global, they’re always shaped by local histories and ideas about the future. For example, Sung Hwan Kim’s ‘Temper Clay’ (2012), set in uniform apartment blocks, looks at the emotional and social impact of this kind of growth. These parallels allowed us to explore how different societies process similar transformations through different historical and cultural frameworks,” she added.
Ram Han, Room type 01, 2018. (Collection of Seoul Museum of Art)
The exhibition also highlights the impact of technological revolutions on Korean art, particularly in the realm of video and digital installations that emerged in the late 1990s. “Korean artists have always been at the forefront of exploring new media, often using technology as a medium to dissect cultural narratives and global dialogues,” said Yeo. “Their work is a testament to adaptability and forward-thinking—an open circuit that is constantly evolving.”
In addition to the main exhibition, “Layered Medium” features a series of panel discussions, workshops, and interactive installations aimed at engaging the community in dialogue about the role of contemporary art in shaping cultural identity and understanding. El-Khalil emphasized the importance of these community-focused initiatives: “We want this exhibition to be more than just a visual experience; it’s a platform for learning and cross-cultural exchange.”
As the first large-scale Korean art exhibition in the GCC, “Layered Medium” is poised to set a new standard for artistic collaboration between Korea and the Middle East. With its emphasis on dialogue, innovation, and historical reflection, the exhibition not only showcases the richness of Korean artistic expression but also reinforces the universal language of art as a bridge across diverse cultures.
“Ultimately, our hope is that visitors leave with a deeper appreciation for the complexity and beauty of Korean contemporary art,” said Yeo. “It’s about creating connections—not just between East and West, but across generations, mediums, and ideologies.”