Filwa Nazer explores the boundaries between body and space

Welcome to Al-Monitor Riyadh.

This week, we spotlight Saudi artist Filwa Nazer’s upcoming solo exhibition in London at Selma Feriani Gallery; Jeddah-based Hafez Gallery’s exhibition during the Frieze Art Fair in London next week; calligraphy showcases at the Riyadh International Book Fair; and Milan’s famed design fair, Salone del Mobile, arriving in the Saudi capital at the end of November.

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Happy reading,

Rebecca

P.S. Have feedback or tips on Riyadh's culture scene? Send them my way at contactus@al-monitor.com.

1. Leading the week: Filwa Nazer’s solo show in London

Filwa Nazer. Diagrams of Dislocation, Untitled 2. 2025. Cotton thread on Calico cotton and black nylon tulle. (Photo courtesy of the artist and Selma Feriani Gallery)

Jeddah-based multidisciplinary artist Filwa Nazer, an artistic pioneer of the Saudi art scene began her creative journey as a fashion designer and graduated from Istituto Marangoni Milano. Nazer’s intricate work, made using a variety of media, including textiles, collages, digital prints and multimedia installations, explores emotional and psychological identity within various spatial and social contexts, delving into the evolving boundaries between public and private space. 

In “The Housed Body,” Nazer presents a new body of work that furthers her ongoing investigation into ideas of transition, alienation and how the body acts within certain spaces. The intricately crafted embroidered works on display, with their muted colors and geometric lines, are fragile, vulnerable and honest. Marking a significant stage of personal transition in the artist’s life, Nazer’s stitched fabric, in the form of sculptural textiles and suspended forms, navigates how the body adapts to certain spaces that contain it, whether sartorially, through a fashion garment or architecturally. 

Nazer’s pieces serve as a metaphor for the discomfort of fitting in, displacement, confusion and the changing of roles and spaces, whether those spaces are structures, cities or even countries, prompting the viewer to reflect on their own sense of belonging in a globalized world.

Nazer’s works demonstrate how structures — whether housing or garments — are not secure containers for the body. Her striking visual language of motifs strives to present an alternative rendition of identity or embodiment, which may, now or in the future, rise above the boundaries and containers that limit it.

Nazer’s works have been featured in prominent public collections globally, including the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, UAE; Saudi Ministry of Culture, Riyadh; the Al-Mansouria Foundation, Jeddah; the Jameel Arts Center, Dubai; and the  Greenbox Museum of Contemporary Art from Saudi Arabia, Amsterdam, as well as numerous private collections worldwide.

Date: Oct. 10 - Nov. 6

Location: Selma Feriani Gallery, 1 Cromwell Place, South Kensington, London 

Find more information here.

2. Word on the street: Buttermilk

Tuck into fried chicken, a playful dish at Buttermilk in Riyadh. (Photo courtesy of Buttermilk)

This homegrown, female-owned eatery offers a playful and heartwarming twist on American cuisine. It serves Southern US comfort food in generous American-sized portions in the Saudi capital.

The original location was just off Northern Ring Road in An Nakheel, and in 2024 it relocated to a residential area in Al Mohammadiyyah, where the three Saudi female founders operate an all-day brunch and bakery.

A standout feature is how Middle Eastern and European specialties fuse with Saudi flavors and ingredients. There are plenty of dishes made with buttermilk, such as the signature buttermilk pancakes, and other highlights include stacked three-layer carrot cake, shakshouka and zesty club sandwiches.

Location: Al Mohammadiyyah, Riyadh

Find more information here.

3. Riyadh diary

Ibrahim El Dessouki. The Olive 1. 2024. Oil on clear canvas. 150 x 200 cm. (Photo courtesy of Hafez Gallery)

• ‘Testimony of Soil’ by Ibrahim El Dessouki

This exhibition presents the poignant works of Egyptian artist Ibrahim El Dessouki, presented by Saudi-based Hafez Gallery during Frieze Art Week. Curated by Sara Raza and titled “Testimony of the Soil,” the exhibition explores the relationship between land, power and labor through new and recent works by Dessouki. At the heart of the exhibition is Dessouki’s new body of “Cotton Flower” paintings, which reflects the legacies of Egypt’s Ottoman and colonial histories and their continued impact on the world today. When grouped together, Dessouki’s paintings portray a powerful and allegorical image of Egypt’s socio-political past and the pressing issues, both environmental and social, facing the country today. 

Date: Oct. 15-19

Location: 9 Cork Street, London

Find more information here.

• Arabic calligraphy at the Riyadh International Book Fair

Join dozens of visitors at the 2025 edition of the Riyadh International Book Fair, which opened on Oct. 2 and runs for 10 days, featuring over 2,000 publishing houses and a variety of cultural activities. A special highlight this year is the prominent display of Arabic calligraphy, which celebrates the beauty of the Arabic language. Through various showcases, the fair conveys the rich cultural heritage of Arabic calligraphy while highlighting contemporary creativity.

Date: until Oct. 11

Location: Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh

Find more information here.

• Salone del Mobile.Milano to come to Riyadh

Saudi Arabia has just announced that it will host the first “Red in progress. Salone del Mobile.Milano meets Riyadh” at the end of November. The event, announced by the Architecture & Design Commission and Salone del Mobile.Milano at the Cultural Investment Conference in late September, marks the Middle Eastern debut of the world’s leading design and furniture fair.

Date: Nov. 26-28  

Location: King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD)

Find more information here.

4. Book of the week: "Arabian Sands"

Whisk back in time with this 1959 classic by Wilfred Thesiger charting his extraordinary journey through Saudi Arabia’s Empty Quarter. Educated at Eton and Oxford in England, Thesiger stated how he wanted to explore the world outside of Western life, which he described as “the machines, the calling cards, the meticulously aligned streets.” In the same spirit as T.E. Lawrence in the early 20th century, Thesiger traveled across the desert sands of the Empty Quarter, recounting in this classic his voyage and discoveries in a culture faraway from his own.

5. View from Riyadh

People walk past an installation showcasing the Riyadh Comedy Festival at Boulevard City in the Hittin neighbourhood of Riyadh on October 6, 2025. (FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images)

6. By the numbers

• According to a recent report by global property consultancy Knight Frank, the value of contracts awarded by Saudi Arabia’s gigaprojects jumped 20% this year to $196 billion as the kingdom fast-tracks its development across real estate, tourism and its infrastructure.
• Faisal Durrani, partner, head of research at Knight Frank for the Middle East and North Africa, noted in the report how “Riyadh has firmly established itself as Saudi Arabia’s new economic powerhouse, accounting for 63 percent of all new jobs created in the Kingdom since 2019.”
• In addition, he said that these investments will support the city’s population growth from 7 million in 2022 to 10.1 million in 2030, with over 340,000 new homes, 4.8 million square meters of office space, 3 million square meters of retail and around 30,000 hotel rooms.