Video: Sculptor blazing a trail for women in arts field in Saudi Arabia

Riyadh: Saudi ceramic artist Awatif Al Keneibit walks proudly into a gallery displaying her work in Riyadh, where statues and earthenware figurines witness the return of plastic arts to Saudi Arabia after decades of restriction.

Her exposition includes ceramic faces, some with hollow eyes, others wearing eye glasses, and figurines of Saudi Arabian women, displayed on red bricks and coloured to reflect traditional desert dresses.

"Who could have imagined that one day, this exhibition, which was in a basement, could be displayed in Olaya (downtown Riyadh)?" said Keneibit, 60, who is blazing a trail for women in the arts in Saudi Arabia.

US-educated Keneibit said she resorted to creating a private gallery earlier at the bottom of her house for friends and guests.

Her work is now welcomed in Riyadh's most prestigious galleries, where other fellow Saudi artists have in the last few years also began enjoying their new-found freedoms.

"We are a generation that has gone through a lot of changes - from a total ban to a complete opening up," she said.