Halla Bint Khalid's First German Exhibition at Galerie Nagel Draxler

Galerie Nagel Draxler in Berlin presents "To Have and to Hold," the first German exhibition of Riyadh-based artist Halla Bint Khalid. Born in Saudi Arabia in 1971, she was eight when the 1979 Great Mosque of Mecca siege occurred, an event that intensified the kingdom's religious policies and shaped the restrictive environment for women. Bint Khalid's work documents the hidden lives of Saudi women in the 1990s through paintings and watercolors. She also writes and illustrates children's books, having founded a publishing house in 1997 and published 18 titles in Arabic and English. The press release draws parallels to Martha Rosler's "Body Beautiful" series, which critiques the commodification of women's bodies. Bint Khalid's series "A Wife is… A Husband is…" explores the grooming of girls for marriage. Despite societal constraints, she pursued art through private tutors, including an American named Alex who challenged her by posing in a bikini for a nude painting lesson. The exhibition runs at Galerie Nagel Draxler in Berlin.