Arwa Alneami grew up and began her career as an artist just outside of Abha in southern Saudi Arabia, where her work Never Never Land (2014) was made. In November 1979, a group of armed extremists seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca and demanded the overthrow of the monarchy, accusing it of corruption and Western decadence. The rebels were expelled, many retreating southward to this mountainous province of Asir on the border of Yemen. When Alneami’s grandmother was a child, Asir’s settlements were tribally diverse, women freely partook in work and trade, and were the key artisans of the community. Following the insurgency however, these communities became host to a new ideology, one which has slowly transformed their social makeup. It has infiltrated all aspects of daily life—even the operation of the harmless amusement park.
Alneami began picturing the Mahrajan Abha theme park when she realised it was changing. One day she and her brother arrived at the park to find they had to be separated by gender. Rules forbade female screaming and skirt malfunctions, with the threat of being removed from the rides for failure to obey. Heavy leather covers were suddenly installed on the rides to prevent skirts from flying up, and for some rides, opaque plastic blocked anyone from watching the women taking part. For the past four years Alneami has gone about with a camera hidden beneath her abaya, faking a baby bump and smuggling out images. She has produced over 500 photographs of the park and two fixed-frame videos. She shows women enduring and defying these restrictions, undermining the seriousness of the system with wry ingenuity. Here, her experiences at the local amusement park become... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline
Sarah Abu Abdallah, The Salad Zone, 2013. Video still. Courtesy the artist.
Bumper Cars (left), Drop Zone (right), 2014. Installation view. Courtesy the artist and City Gallery Wellington.
