I rarely write editor’s letters for General Issues. I mostly write 2-3 paragraphs describing the artwork featured in the issue. But there is so much happening around the world to leave it at 2-3 paragraphs.
When I first founded Ward, my intention was to spotlight the artwork of Tabuk-based artists and writers. There were no museums or art galleries around me in Tabuk. Perhaps the only outlet was a branch of the Saudi Arabian Society for Culture and Arts, which was never open nor doing monumental work in the community. So I started looking for other outlets, and they were mainly located in Jeddah and Riyadh. They were, however, mostly unwelcoming, with their only English signs, White, Western feminism and Orientalism, and elitist smell. Do you ever go to a place and swear you could smell elitism? Yes, that’s how those spaces felt like.
I wanted Ward to become everything I couldn’t find in those spaces. I tried to make the content bilingual and accessible. I reached out to artists from the villages of Saudi before the cities. I mainly interviewed womxn creatives. And I addressed topics like freedom and gender, which were received with “leftist trash” and “Western exports.” I thought I achieved everything I ever wanted for Ward: an inclusive, accessible, welcoming and collaborative space. But a group of submissions Ward received earlier this year proved me wrong.
These submissions were addressing issues and topics that mainly concerned womxn and queer people. Similar to the way our society handles issues related to any racial, ethnic, religious, gender, or sexual minority, I avoided featuring these submissions in any of the General Issues. I was concerned about the future of Ward and “shocking” the readers with “controversial” topics they weren’t yet ready for. But silence is compliance, and we’ve moved past the point of needing to find justifications to begin addressing such topics within our communities out of fear of sensitivities that are rooted in oppression.
Dear Ward reader, if you’re still reading this seemingly endless letter, here’s a reminder to keep while reading Issue 17: Ward’s artists are Shia. Ward’s artists are Black. Ward’s artists are queer and trans. Ward’s artists are loud and opinionated and not here to appeal to your morals. Ward’s artists create from the margins and will no longer be dismissed or silenced.
I hope you enjoy this issue as much as I enjoyed making it!
