A woman has her hand painted with henna along the corniche in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, June 14, 2011. Because of cultural and religious restrictions imposed on women in Saudi Arabia, women generally need a male guardian to accompany them out in public, and are often fully veiled as per tradition in Saudi Arabia.Lynsey Addario for TIME
This is the second installment in a five-part series from TIME International’s annual Summer Journey issue, Travels Through Islam: Discovering a world of change and challenge in the footsteps of the 14th century explorer Ibn Battuta.
My assignment was to photograph love and dating among Saudi Arabian youth—one of the most impenetrable subjects to document. In a closed society like Saudi Arabia, most people are extremely concerned about their reputations among peers and among elders, and young people who are viewed as too open are often not viewed as appropriate potential marriage partners. They keep their private lives guarded, and if you happen to be privy to their intimate tales, it is often on a first-name-only basis for print—and rarely are you able to take pictures. Love and dating is one of the oldest stories of all time, but in Saudi Arabia, it is one of the most taboo.
For the first week, I wasn’t able to make any pictures outside of the clichés – Saudis shopping in malls and women in abayas on the street. While Aryn Baker, my colleague, was diving deep into people’s dating lives with words, I couldn’t even take out my camera without provoking immediate recoils and sneers. I was growing more and more frustrated.
I had worked in Saudi pretty extensively in 2004, photographing the royal family, successful women in the Kingdom, and a story on Jehadists who turned liberal after spending time in prison, and had great luck on all occasions. But for this story, every door was closed—until we went to Jeddah.
Though still governed by the same traditions and cultural stigmas as Riyadh, Jeddah is much more open. Even still, most of my favorite images couldn’t be published. We didn’t want to create problems for the people in the photos: from the young man flashing us his phone number as he tried to pick us up on a Thursday night in Riyadh to the men and women jet-skiing, swimming, and playing around together in the sea outside of Jeddah.
Lynsey Addario is a freelance photographer based in Delhi on assignment for TIME in Saudi Arabia.
A woman has her hand painted with henna along the corniche in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, June 14, 2011. Because of cultural and religious restrictions imposed on women in Saudi Arabia, women generally need a male guardian to accompany them out in public, and are often fully veiled as per tradition in Saudi Arabia.Lynsey Addario for TIMESaudi women pray alongside a group of Indonesian tourists along the corniche in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, June 14, 2011. Saudi Arabia is governed by Sharia Law, rule according to Islam, and religion is ever present in society across the country.Lynsey Addario for TIMEA Saudi woman talks on the phone as she is driven by a driver out for the evening in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, June 16, 2011. On June 17, a group of Saudi women have called for a nation-wide challenge to the ban on women drivers across the country.Lynsey Addario for TIMEYoung Saudi men hold up their phone numbers on a Thursday night in traffic as they try to pick up women in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, June 9, 2011. Because of social and societal restrictions, young men and women cannot flirt and socialize openly, so young people are constantly devising ways to interact with women. Reciting their phone numbers aloud, holding them up in public, and etching blackberry pin numbers onto cars are just a few ways young men try to get women to call them.Lynsey Addario for TIMESaudi women sit outside of the mosque during evening prayer in Diera, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, June 10, 2011. Saudi Arabia is governed by Sharia Law, which is law according to Islam, and thus there are many cultural restrictions which segregate men and women throughout society; all businesses must close for the five prayer times per day in Saudi.Lynsey Addario for TIMESaudi women walk along the corniche in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, June 15, 2011.Lynsey Addario for TIMERiam Darwish checks notes on her computer during a presentation in Ahmed el Shukairy's office, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, June 16, 2011. Shukairy, often compared to the Oprah of Saudi, has a very popular television show during Ramadan. In this meeting at his office, he is running previews by his 'dream team' to get their feedback.Lynsey Addario for TIMESaudi women play at a playground along the corniche in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, June 14, 2011. Lynsey Addario for TIMESaudi Hip Hop artist Joe Werede rides around listening to his latest album in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, June 15, 2011. Joe is part of a very small group of Saudi musicians in the country. Their group, named Black R, has already sold 95,000 albums in and around the Kingdom.Lynsey Addario for TIMESaudis watch the Riyadh skyline from the Kingdom Bridge, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, June 9, 2011. The Kingdom bridge, next to the Kingdom Mall, is Saudi Arabia's tallest point, and is often where Saudis gather to socialize, visit with families, and young people go to flirt. One Saudi employee of the mall called Saudi's malls 'the bars of the country.'Lynsey Addario for TIMEA giant poster of King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud lines the road out of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, June 9, 2011. King Abdullah succeeded the throne in 2005.Lynsey Addario for TIMESaudi cousins Bayan, 20, and Seba, 19, shop for a new abaya for Seba in the Sahara mall in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, June 11, 2011. There are few social spaces for singles and families to gather in Riyadh outside of malls, and many families and young people spend evenings lingering at one of dozens of malls around the city.Lynsey Addario for TIMEA Saudi woman works in an events management company in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, June 14, 2011. More and more Saudi women are entering the work force in recent years. Though change is gradual, King Abdullah has been a big promoter of women's rights and the advancement of women in society.Lynsey Addario for TIMERoua Al Madani, managing director of an Events Management firm, works at her computer in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, June 14, 2011. More and more Saudi women have entered the work force in recent years.Lynsey Addario for TIMEYoung Saudis gather in Bridges bookstore—one of the few bookstores in the country, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, June 14, 2011. While bookstores like this are common throughout most of the rest of the world, they are extremely rare in Saudi Arabia, and provide young people with a place to study, have philosophical and intellectual discussions, and to meet for book clubs in Jeddah.Lynsey Addario for TIMEA Saudi men checks his Facebook page while working in an events management company in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, June 14, 2011. Social media has become one of the most common forms of expression across the Middle East, and given the restrictions on freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia, many young people turn to Facebook and Twitter to communicate.Lynsey Addario for TIMERoua Al Madani, managing director of an events management firm, sings to her friend as they ride around the beach outside of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, June 14, 2011.Lynsey Addario for TIME28-year-old IT consultant Ali el Saddou tries on a Bisht, a finely woven traditional robe (the Saudi equivalent of a tuxedo), which he will wear for his wedding in two weeks, as his brother, Mana, 21, far left, looks on, in Riyadh's old bazaar, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, June 10, 2011. Ali al Saddou will marry his cousin in a traditional arranged marriage in the Kingdom's capital, a tradition that is very common in the Kingdom.Lynsey Addario for TIMEYoung Saudis swim and jet ski at Durrat al Aruz, outside of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, June 15, 2011. The beaches around Jeddah are some of the few places where Saudi's religious police do not have a presence, and young men and women are able to swim and hang out freely.Lynsey Addario for TIMEYoung Saudis swim and jet ski at Durrat al Aruz, outside of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, June 15, 2011.Lynsey Addario for TIME
