Culture

Idries Trevathan is the Curator of Islamic Art and Culture at the king Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra). He has over 15 years of experience working with Islamic art collections in the Muslim world and beyond. Trevathan works regularly on conservation projects and has conducted technical and aesthetic color studies on a range of Islamic art objects, including the Malay Qur’an manuscripts, Damascene reception rooms and Ottoman era porticoes in the grand mosque in Makkah. Trevathan trained as an art conservator at the City & Guilds of London Art School and earned a PhD in Islamic art from the Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts, London. His achievements have been recognized by numerous awards, including the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies Prize for Research, the Hamad bin Khalifa Scholarship, the Zibby Garnett Fellowship and the Knights of the Round Table Award. He has authored and edited numerous books most notably Colour, Light and Wonder in Islamic Art (Saqi Books 2020) and The Art of Orientation: An Exploration of the Mosque through Objects (Hirmer 2020).

The Head of Museum at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra). She holds an MA in Museum Anthropology from Columbia University in New York, USA, and a BA in International Business and Intercultural Communications from Aston University in Birmingham, UK. Abushullaih joined the Ithra team in 2012 and worked as Lead Curator of the Great Hall exhibition space. During her time at Ithra, Abushullaih led the launching of a number of programs and initiatives that support the development of the Kingdom’s creative sector and provide a platform for cross-cultural engagement. With her team, she curated and developed several local and international exhibitions in collaboration and partnership with distinguished institutions. Abushullaih has led bringing global art to the Kingdom. In 2021, she introduced the first immersive art exhibition in the Kingdom that addresses the topic of sustainability.