A woman dressed in traditional Islamic attire holding hands with a young girl as they walk on a paved area. In the background, a girl is riding a bicycle near a fenced area with decorative posts and spherical ornaments, under a clear sky with some trees and distant structures.

Saudi 2014-2017 a selection

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About the Project

Stories of Expats, Cities and People, Separation and Compound Life

“You kinda have to go where the oil is. “ — Lee Raymond, CEO ExxonMobil

I went to Saudi Arabia in 2014 to chase a professional development opportunity. I stayed until 2017. For three years I lived and worked in Al Jubail, an industrial city on the Eastern Province coast built around and for the petrochemical plants. On weekends I would drive to Al Khobar, cross the causeway into Bahrain, or catch a flight to Dubai. Once, I travelled to Jeddah for a wedding. These escapes had a grammar of their own.

The Kingdom keeps its contradictions close and its boundaries closer. What I found myself photographing, almost despite myself, was the architecture of separation: the compound walls that divided Western expats from the city outside; the invisible walls that separated those expats from the Asian workers who outnumbered them and whose Saudi Arabia was an entirely different country; the walls between men and women, between inside and outside.

I am Italian. I came from elsewhere, and I stayed. That made me neither insider nor outsider but something in between: a witness with a work permit, at first. Day after day, though, something shifted. With local colleagues I built relationships grounded in mutual respect and genuine collaboration; bonds that outlasted the contract and changed how I understood the place. The camera gave me a reason to look carefully at a country most people passed through without seeing, and a discipline for making sense of what I found there.

This project does not attempt to explain Saudi Arabia. It records what one photographer saw, from where he was standing, during three particular years in a country that was already beginning to change in ways that nobody, at the time, could quite predict.

About the Photographer

Ruggero Pellegrin is an Italian documentary photographer based in Cheshire, England. His work is anthropological in character, examining culture, faith, behaviour, and identity through an outsider's eye. The Saudi Arabia project, documented between 2014 and 2017, remains one of his most sustained engagements with a single place and community.

The book Saudi Arabia 2015–2016 digs deeper into this world and is available on Blurb.

A woman and a girl walking together on a bridge, holding hands. The girl is riding a scooter. The scene is in black and white, with a clear sky and palm trees in the background.

A street market stall with various fresh fruits and vegetables, including tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli, oranges, and eggplants, under a blue tarp. A man in traditional white attire and a pink headscarf stands to the right of the stall, smiling, with

A detailed carved chocolate bar with intricate patterns and designs.

Scenic view of a beach with white sand, straw umbrellas, and a few people. The ocean has gradient shades of blue and turquoise. In the background, there are modern buildings and construction cranes under a clear blue sky.

Yellow school bus parked on the side of an empty road with power lines and industrial buildings in the background.

A woman dressed in black standing on outdoors illuminated steps at night, with a bright moon in the cloudy sky above. Palm trees and a green railing are visible around her.

A woman walking on the sidewalk pushing a stroller with a baby, next to a blue plumbing cart with yellow and black caution tape.

A man in a white shirt standing at a colorful outdoor market, with various toys and balloons, including green, pink, and purple balloons, around him. There is a car in the background decorated with inflatable toys like animals and balls, set in a dry

A Fujifilm X-series camera with a zoom lens resting on a beige bag, a book with a desert cover, and a patterned fabric background.

Close-up of the front grille of a green vintage Chevrolet car with a Chevrolet emblem, at night, with a person in dark clothing and a hat standing in the background.

Several men in traditional Middle Eastern attire sitting cross-legged on a carpet inside a tent, with some holding cups and a thermos placed in front of them.

A man dressed in traditional Middle Eastern attire, wearing a red and white keffiyeh and white robe, stands in a dimly lit room with wooden beams on the ceiling. He is looking down and slightly to the side, with several people and warm lighting in th

Night view of a cityscape with a very tall dark building illuminated with lights, trees in the foreground, and an outdoor dining area with tables and chairs.

A woman with dark hair wearing a hat and dark clothing is sitting at a table, drinking from a white mug in a restaurant or cafe setting. There is a glass of water and a plate with some food in front of her. The background has decorations, including a

Black and white photo of two men and two children walking on a street at night, with cars and illuminated buildings in the background.

Man wearing traditional Middle Eastern attire, including a gold-patterned thobe and a red and white checkered keffiyeh, holding a trophy or decorative object.

A man walking in a stable with two horses, one close to him and another in the background, with a dimly lit interior and some light coming from an opening.

People walking along a beach at sunset, with one person in the foreground looking at a camera, and others in the background walking near the water. The sky has shades of pink and purple, and the beach has rocks and patches of water.

A person dressed in black clothing and head covering walking through a narrow alley with high beige stone walls.

Looking up from inside a ruined structure with rough beige walls, through an opening at the top revealing a clear blue sky, with stones and debris at the bottom.

Close-up of a rugged, layered rock formation with warm orange and yellow tones, set against a clear blue sky.

A person wearing a light gray sun hat, a striped red and black shirt, and black pants, carrying a black backpack and holding a water bottle, walking in a sandy cave with carved stone structures on the walls.

Two men dressed in white traditional clothing walking in front of ancient rock carvings in a desert landscape at Petra, Jordan.

Rock formations in a desert landscape with small patches of grass and a tree in the foreground.

A rocky canyon with layered cliffs and a vehicle parked on the sandy ground, illuminated by sunlight and blue sky.

A man walking or jogging outdoors near a sidewalk with a trail or road in the background, wearing a hat and dark sportswear.

Man dressed in traditional Middle Eastern attire walking barefoot through a desert landscape at sunset, with rocky formations in the background.

A smiling man wearing black traditional clothing and glasses standing in front of a white tent in a desert-like area, holding up a small object and greeting.

Sand dunes in a desert landscape with a partly cloudy blue sky.

A desert scene with four parked SUVs near a makeshift campsite, including a tent and scattered camping gear. Sand dunes and a blue sky are in the background.

A red SUV with a person inside and another person sitting in a small boat, being pulled by a rope through a desert landscape of sand dunes.

Person in white clothing standing on sandy terrain at sunset, with shoes and sandals on the ground nearby and dust particles in the air.

A calm body of water with a single red buoy floating on it, and a faint horizon line in the distance under a cloudy sky.