Saudi Gazette

“In this particular piece, I am talking about Saudi moving in a different direction, with their vision of 2030. We are moving away from relying on oil and focusing on other sources of income, which is very smart considering we have always depended on it yet it will run out at some point,” Khalid Zahid told Saudi Gazette.

Zahid uses a gas pump and disintegration as a tool to illustrate Saudi’s assertion of strategic autonomy and what the changes epitomize. “I had a gas tank which I bought and had different ideas for. But instead of merely displaying it, I took it apart. As you see the elements float away from each other, it grasps on to our status quo of slowly breaking away from the petrol era, knowing we are 12 years away from reaching our goals and attaining the vision. The time mechanism is us counting down to the Vision 2030 which is a turning point for Saudi Arabia- a country that depended on oil so far but is now diversifying instead. So in a way it puts an end to that era but is a beginning of a new one. Which is where it gets its name from.”

Khalid Zahid is a renowned Saudi artist who lives in Jeddah and is the name behind some of the most influential art pieces from the region this decade.