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About Departures ‘81

The Hajj Terminal at Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport (‘KAIA’) is the world’s largest open air structure. A portal for the millions of Muslim pilgrims flying to Saudi Arabia each year for Hajj*, its innovative yet empathetic design endures and recently drew attention for being ideally suited to a post-pandemic world.

This distinctive structure is also a potent symbol of my early childhood. From 1980-1983 our family lived on ‘KAIA’ camp (an area of airport territory for workers from the German and American construction firms) whilst my father, Iain Davidson (1942-2007), worked on the build.

Using his photographs and mementos as the jumping-off point, Departures ‘81 explores the idea of resonance: both of an inaccessible place that exists through faded memory and the evocative visual language of materials left behind.

By inviting artists to respond to the architecture and archive, Departures ‘81 breathes new life into this rich source, and, by connecting with other lives that have been touched by the Terminal, seeks to open up discussions about human endeavour and connection, parental influence and how the past brings to bear on the present.

*a pilgrimage made to Islam’s holiest sites, including the Great Mosque at Mecca.