contributors

Walls of the GCC

Abu Dhabi Doha Dubai Jeddah Kuwait City Manama Riyadh

Cities in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE share a common emerging culture: counter-narratives graffitied on their buildings and walls.

Filling in the blanks

on Dubai's walls

Culture Dubai

The walls of Dubai, usually void of any message that’s not commercial, have become the canvas of a new street artist questioning the city’s mode of living.

Graffiti without a cause

The Kingdom codes

CultureSociety Jeddah

911, F-16, 666. Numbers that seem to signify danger, alarm, war. In a Saudi Arabian coding system, they are graffiti tags representing tribes and regions.

Disturbed & out of balance

The fate of Medina

Urban change Medina

Medina is an ever changing city, an odd blend of modern buildings and traditional architecture, described as “totally out of balance” by architect Sami Angawi.

The medium and the message

Rights & dissent Manama

In Bahrain, powerful graffiti reminds of past and current struggles, and more resistance to come.

Ha’il, a simple kind of town

Visual Sunday

SocietyUrban change Mashallah region

You don’t know the Arabian Peninsula (or ‘Arabia’) if you don’t know Ha’il, the timeless oasis city of Najd.

Mecca

Holy site under construction

Urban change Mecca

Mecca may be sacred, but that doesn’t stop it from transforming. Towering in the city center today is, among others, a clock tower larger than Big Ben.