Nahla Khogeer is a designer and visual artist based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. With an MFA in Design from California College of the Arts, San Francisco, her work blends design, storytelling, and cultural inquiry, drawing deeply from her heritage. Rooted in her family’s legacy of Al-Tawwafa, the generational practice of guiding pilgrims, Nahla’s creative process is shaped by the values of care, navigation, and connection.
Her practice explores the intersections of ritual, spirituality, and tradition, reimagining these elements through a contemporary lens. With a focus on perception and emotion, she creates works that navigate the nuances of cultural memory, storytelling, and form. For Nahla, art is an act of discovery—a way to reinterpret the details of daily life and inherited traditions into something deeply personal yet universally resonant.
This ethos extends beyond exhibitions. At the Exploratorium Museum in San Francisco, CA, she refined her approach to integrating narrative and design across disciplines. Whether crafting commissioned pieces, showcasing at international exhibitions, or developing personal projects, Nahla continually returns to the essence of Al-Tawwafa—a symbol of guidance and care—reframed within the context of contemporary art.
Her recent body of work includes a prestigious commission for the Aga Khan Documentation Center at the MIT Museum (2023). Over the years, her artistry has been showcased at the Riyadh International Book Fair (2022), the Workshop Residence in San Francisco, CA (2019), and the landmark exhibition Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam at the British Museum in London (2012), where her work resonated as a tribute to heritage and innovation.
In 2022, she was a designer-in-residence at Masaha, Misk Art Institute, and an artist-in-residence at Al-Balad Art Residency and Hafez Gallery. Both residencies, grounded in research, not only deepened her engagement with cultural narratives but also cemented her role as a visionary voice in contemporary Saudi art.