Photos Reveal the Changing Face of Saudi Arabia’s Women | Exposure

[Music] I'm always surprised when I'm in Saudi Arabia because I go there with a sort of sense of dread of how difficult it will be to photograph and how impenetrable the place is.

And then I find myself there and having fun. The women in Saudi Arabia are really aware of how constrictive their lives look because they're always criticized for it. A lot of people think that no one in Saudi Arabia has fun because so much happens behind closed doors and it's also such a private society.

So it takes a very long time to get people to allow you to go indoors and to photograph it. There were a few pictures that stuck with me over time and probably Hadia's house when the women were practicing dancing for an upcoming wedding.

They had a disco ball and they sort of just put on this loud music and they were all dancing around the living room. It was such a great moment because everyone was just laughing and having fun.

So you'll see in many of these pictures their faces covered and their heads covered, and that's something that typically they would not wear inside their homes. But because they're being photographed, because the images are for public display, it's as if they are out in public.

I think at some point people feel like the only way to push the country forward is to do is to push a little bit, and some people are more willing than others to take the fall. You know, I photographed the singer who had probably one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard in my life.

Again, singing is illegal; women can't sing in public. I asked her a million times, "Are you sure it's okay to be photographed? Are you sure I can use your name? Are you sure?" And she said, "Look, my family supports me 100%. You know, they're not pushing the boundaries just for the sake of pushing the boundaries.

They're pushing the boundaries because they have this incredible talent or they have this incredible dedication or curiosity that they can't suppress." I went on a dayong hike in the desert outside of Jeda and it was not only stunning visually but also I think there must have been 30 or 40 people going out to the desert and hiking for a day, stopping and having a campfire after.

That's something that's illegal in Saudi Arabia; it's something that we take for granted. But in Saudi you can't do that. You can't do it with people who are friends because they are not relatives.

And so there are all these little things happening. It is changing little by little. I'm always learning when I go to a place like Saudi, but a lot of it we don't see.