“Each photograph I take is like a part of my soul, and I’d like that to outlive me.”
Born and raised in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, Al-Dowayan has had a rich and non-structured educational background in photography having taken courses in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Bahrain, and London. She has participated in group and solo exhibitions internationally and has lectured about the art of photography in the Gulf.
Al-Dowayan has lived for most of her life in a semi-enclosed camp in Dhahran and works full time for a national oil company that has employed women since the 1940s. The culture which she is a part of is thus subtly different to the rest of Saudi Arabia.
In her photographs women from the Eastern Province, where Al-Dowayan lives, are shown veiled and heavily made-up next to the individual paraphernalia of different male professions. With no studio Al-Dowayan erects temporary studios in the homes of her subjects, thus inhabiting herself a typically male profession.
The strength and beauty of her images lies in the visual conflict she creates and harsh tonal contrasts. This relates in many ways to the extreme contrast between her life inside the camp and life beyond it.
