When the Fog Whispers/In a New Light: Contemporary Photography from Saudi Arabia
Various Artists
Visual Arts Commission, Ministry of Culture, and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
English
Softcover
Tête-bêche book
56 page
234 × 310 mm
2025
In a New Light presents the third edition of the Kingdom Photography Award, showcasing selected works from the 30 Open Call winners, chosen from over 1,300 submissions across Saudi Arabia. The publication captures a vibrant portrait of contemporary Saudi life through striking visual narratives that explore memory, identity, and place. From intimate family moments to sweeping desert landscapes, these photographs reveal unexpected perspectives and celebrate the Kingdom’s dynamic creative culture. It is both a record of the nation’s evolving artistic landscape and an invitation to experience the power of photography as a medium of storytelling and connection.
When the Fog Whispers documents the third edition of the Kingdom Photography Award, inviting five photographers to explore Saudi Arabia’s Asir region. Through distinct visual narratives, they reveal Asir’s layered identity, blending rugged landscapes with deep cultural heritage. Their projects move between memory and contemporary life, showing how tradition and transformation shape the province and its people. This catalog celebrates photography’s power to connect past and present while offering an intimate portrait of a place where history, nature, and human stories converge.
(Source: www.kaphbooks.com/books/in-a-new-light)
(Source: www.kaphbooks.com/books/when-the-fog-whispers)
About the Artist
Based between the UAE & the UK, Mohamed’s architectural and documentary photography practice locates and probes schisms in contemporary life, challenging the status quo with sensitive, critical commentary on the politics of representation. Mohamed is also the Director of Gulf Photo Plus (GPP), a Dubai-based gallery and community organization cultivating visual practices in photography in the UAE, and across the wider MENASA region since 2004. As part of GPP’s commitment to developing visual and critical literacy, the organization engages the community with regular educational and art programming, and for a number of years hosted an annual photography festival that draws international attendance and showcases the world’s preeminent talent in photography. Mohamed is a co-curator of the bi-annual BredaPhoto Festival in the Netherlands, and has served as a jury member for various visual arts initiatives notably the prestigious Arab Documentary Photography Program, Mohamed is also GPP’s Director of the PhotoPlus UK organisation since 2021 which aims to expand on GPP’s offerings in the UK.
www.mohamedsomji.com
(Source: www.mohamedsomji.com/About)
About the Publisher
The Visual Arts Commission was established in 2020. It is one of eleven cultural entities which simultaneous establishment was approved by the Council of Ministers, and is affiliated with the Ministry of Culture.
The commission enjoys a public legal personality and has financial and administrative independence. It operates within an annual operational budget allocated from the Ministry of Culture’s budget. It is organizationally affiliated with the Minister of Culture, and its employees are subject to the Labor Law and Social Insurance Law.
The Visual Arts Commission runs its activities from its main headquarters located in Riyadh. It comprises a Board of Directors chaired by the Minister of Culture, who supervises and runs the management of the commission’s affairs and makes all the necessary decisions to achieve its targets. The commission is headed by a chief executive officer appointed by a decision of the board and is responsible for managing the commission’s affairs.
visualarts.moc.gov.sa/en
(Source: saudipedia.com/en/visual-arts-commission)
The Ministry of Culture is the entity responsible for approving policies related to the development and regulation of the cultural sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Its main tasks include empowering the cultural scene locally and internationally. The main goal is to preserve the Kingdom’s identity by promoting and protecting visual arts, performing arts, theater, music, literature, etc. The Ministry was established in 2018, and it is one of the modern ministries in the Kingdom after separating from the Ministry of Media. A Royal Decree appoints the Minister and is primarily responsible for it. The Minister is a member of the Council of Ministers, and the position includes chairing the board of directors of the Ministry’s entities.
www.moc.gov.sa/en
(Source: saudipedia.com/en/ministry-of-culture)
