( I lived and taught in various universities in Saudi Arabia for about 3 years, and am planning a visit back for a drive round this autumn. Below is a little about my life there. Thanks G.v.U. for the second photo. )
Access to Saudi people other than my students came through meeting Nick, a writer and journalist from London, who was the editor of ‘Saudi Voyager’, the flagship magazine of the Saudi Ministry of Tourism. Its readers were mainly non-Saudis living in the Kingdom, and Nick and I got on well so he invited me to various press events and social occasions connected to his job.
As usual anywhere, things got moving through word of mouth and gradually I managed to go to talks or events which were mainly targeted towards Saudis.
One of the first of these was on Western Art ( about which many Saudis knew very little, just like most of the west still know nothing about Saudi art or artists ) held at the Alãan Artspace by a woman from New York. She and I were the only foreigners there, in a group of very wealthy, well-travelled Saudi women who were vastly elegant and beautiful and rather condescending due to this, but the New Yorker knew her stuff and managed to impress nevertheless.
It was a fascinating opportunity to be at at event where I was a complete outsider, and in the company of people – disdainful as many of them were – I would never have met if I’d not left my previous lives.
I later published an article in Nick’s magazine about the art gallery itself.
Out There & In Here 