With quaint sculptures, miniature paintings, curtains and jewelry, a small corner of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Spring 2025 Undergraduate Exhibition called attention to an unrepresented beauty and peace thriving in Southern Saudi Arabia.
Maha Al-Zahrani (BFA 2025), an artist specializing in oil painting and ceramic graduating with her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in studio from SAIC, saw the UG Exhibition as an opportunity to not only showcase her hard work after years of schooling, but also one to bring forth an unfounded perspective of Saudi Arabia to unfamiliar audiences.
While Al-Zahrani has big ideas, the work she presented is at a small scale. It started with miniature oil paintings. She found that by downsizing, she could ultimately make more time for exploration.
“I used to do all different sizes of work, but because I wanted to keep up with school and different media, for my own sanity, I wanted to still paint, because I thought painting was kind of like writing — or journaling,” said Al-Zahrani. With this swift transition, Al-Zahrani was able to expand her practice from painting into ceramics, metal sculpture and dive into research while allowing painting to remain integral.
To Al-Zahrani, showcasing humour and happiness was pivotal to her showcase. With multiple small scenes, she aimed to craft worlds that would show audiences unfamiliar with Southern Saudi Arabia what she sees.
“I am super invested in the feelings [that the work is] going to give, especially the pieces that are just designated for women. And one of the things that I pay attention to — and people have noticed — is that I always picture women being happy,” said Al-Zahrani. She garners inspiration from Russian contemporary painter Vladimir Volegov. Volegov always paints women happy and in an organic flow state.
In the joy of the pieces, there is also a call for playfulness and reflection on the relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. “The Bedouin Lady and the Oil Barrels” addresses the conflict for oil and how people from both nations can find room for laughter and creativity in political situations.
Al-Zahrani gave an example of real events that inspired one of her miniature scenes. In 2023 amidst the ongoing deal for oil between the United States and Saudi Arabia, the Saudi National Orchestra and Choir, Saudi Performing Arts Band, and Dizzy Gillespie’s Big Band performed a popular piece, “Marvels of Saudi Music,” in New York City. The performance toured globally and featured iconic green oil barrels which the public associated with the deal. “It was kind of like a political statement in the heart of America. So all this [economic] and political attention was executed in a humorous manner, which went viral online. So [“The Bedouin Lady and the Oil Barrels”] was me connecting to that topic, which I thought, ‘oh, politics sometimes takes a very artistic route.’”
“When we reflect back and we use our talents and try to address these topics, in that sense, I think that’s one of the first steps in making the world a better place actually,” said Al-Zahrani.
Within this retelling of positive moments in Al-Zahrani’s display, she also highlighted the breadth of the materials she has worked with while at SAIC and delved into the personal humanity and beauty of cultural traditions by showcasing a custom jewelry piece, paired with her miniature painting “In the Pomegranate Garden” and ceramic sculpture “Southern Saudi Girl Picnicking With Her Cat.”
The idea for creating the head jewelry “Raheeb Sumadah” was derived from silver pieces specific to the Zaharni tribe in Saudi Arabia. While the designs are no longer produced, remaining jewelry is typically passed down generationally by matriarchs in families. “By reflecting on that, and knowing that my mom has her big love, she gives it to one of my sisters every year to wear [for] the big occasions, and I thought I really want to push this further. I want to reproduce it, but also connect it to something that’s very contemporary. Something that women in my country, from all the different regions, and not only from the South, can connect to, and they can wear this very unique piece,” said Al-Zahrani.
Al-Zahrani’s approach of customizing and making old things new is timely and feels representative of efforts to embrace heritage, nationality, and individuality. Contemporary artist Amra Fatima Khan works similarly by customizing women’s face coverings by embroidering intricate designs on niqabs.
By spending time working with metals in a foundry, Al-Zahrani felt empowered. Not only from the labor but also the intrinsic context of the jewelry she was reinventing. “Something on the head is like a crown, or it’s a strong piece that also lays on the ears, or covers the ears. At some point I thought it kind of means, oh I don’t hear negativity, or I don’t hear the negative thoughts. It keeps women focused, and that feeling was very important to me,” said Al-Zahrani.
The reception to Al-Zahrani’s work was positive and many viewers expressed to her that they had learned new information and visualized Saudi Arabia in a way they had not before. After graduating, Al-Zahrani is welcoming a period of rest and recovery to reflect on her time as a student and think of the ways she will continue to grow as an artist. She hopes to showcase the work from the UG Exhibition in art capitals in Saudi Arabia one day to share her joy.
“This body of work — came from one big piece of love that’s tapping into my origins from the Southern side of Saudi Arabia and that’s how I started to connect to tradition in general and connecting to some of the impressionists and the expressionists’ work. I tried to express my love through that lens,” said Al-Zahrani.
Correction 6/22/25: Maha Al-Zahrani’s name was misspelled as “Al-Zaharani” in several locations.
