If We Close Our Eyes, It's Still the Same

If We Close Our Eyes, It's Still the Same, 2024Archival Materials, Found Objects, Research Database
Installation Archives SaudiStreetArt

commissioned by Hayy jameel part of the
“We Saw an Endless Cycle” group exhibition curated by Rotana Shaker

Basmah Felemban, as the founder of Saudi Street Art, and Mustafa Al-Hassan’s
collaboration began with the 2019 exhibition situated in Jeddah’s AlBalad called “The Waves Won’t Stop when You Leave,” where they worked together to create a guidebook documenting existing graffiti and engaging local artists.

As they toured the city, mapping murals and identifying key sites around them—restaurants, parks, parking lots, and bridges—a larger narrative began to emerge. What was once a guidebook of graffiti evolved into a map of alternative communal spaces, from architecturally significant buildings to those imbued with unofficial histories.

Through this new commission, they expand on this alternative mapping project, focusing on the sites of restaurants that they documented in the original guide and mapping how they have changed, relocated, and sometimes rebranded in the wake of redevelopment in the south of the city. Their installation is inspired by the notion of a ‘baraha’ (playground/park) as a meeting point in the city and features a library of collected materials from their process, as well as a newly developed interactive archive of 25 of the restaurants and their movements.