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On January 25, the Saudi Royal Court announced that Her Royal Highness Princess Tarfa bint Fahad AlSaud bin Abdulaziz had passed away.
Upon the announcement of Princess Tarfa’s death, tributes flowed in on social media.
Princess Tarfa bint Saud was the mother of Prince Saud bin Faisal bin Abdullah bin Jalawi.
The Princess
The deceased Princes, in her own words, described herself, “Like everyone else, I am someone with a story.
Sometimes, when I felt nostalgic, I would ask my mother to describe how I was as a child. “Obedient,” she would say, “a sweet girl who always listened to what her parents had to say.”
In her eyes, I was calm, I had many friends, I was a healthy child, and so were my three brothers and sister.”
But her memory served a different story. She was, of course, a happy child and, indeed, healthy — but far from obedient and rarely quiet.
She was adventurous, an explorer, and always wanted to (and did) join the boys in their adventures and crazy pranks and plots, especially those involving bike rides with her older brother, but never wild.
The Princess enjoyed an inner life and peace, creating a world that produced her first piece of art, by the time she was in sixth grade, an abstract composition.
She recalled her disappointment at the teacher for not liking her art, ‘I’m not sure if I knew what I had created at the time, but I knew it had the value.’Â
The Mother
The Princess had married young, so her first child came at the beginning of her journey at only 20 years old—a defining moment in her life for its significance.
They would grow together, learn together, and explore the world together.
Sadly, that dream did not stay its course; at the age of one, Prince Saud was diagnosed with leukemia; this was when the Princess was pregnant with the second child, the adorable Princess Nora.
Her hero, the young Prince Saud, passed away at the age of 12.
The Artist
Princess Nora and Prince Yazeed were her critics and biggest fans.
She loved them and cherished every minute spent with them, grateful to have had such intelligent and bright children. And being involved in their lives gave her immense pleasure.
Sometime back, Princess Tarfa was invited to speak at the Alfaisal University in Riyadh, where Princess Nora is studying, and gave a talk titled: “The Creative Soul and the Structured World.”Â
To champion the youth had always been a goal for her, helping them indulge in life and face it with grit and grace and to adapt when life’s challenges are too much for a young spirit to handle.
She believed creativity provides young people with the tools, means, and strength they need to navigate through the fog of challenges.
Her experience with grief taught her about human nature, valuing what one has, what one will be given in the future, and a path to find balance and serenity in any given chaotic situation.
The late Princess was deeply spiritual; she believed that everything happens for a reason and that God has a plan for each one of us.Â
She began exploring art as a healing process and fell in love with what she found. Princess Tarfa studied for her diploma in visual arts in her thirties and started her career as a professional artist.Â
The Princess is reported to have said, “In our ancient culture, poets claimed that creativity came from a magical place called the “Abqar Valley,” where creatives made deals with demons to inspire.
This story, with its ancient symbolism, says a lot about working in a creative field.”
Being an artist means having a lifestyle, a particular mindset, and a way of seeing the world.
An artist is constantly exploring, wondering, and arguing about the world’s order and how it should be.
In summary, being an artist entails having a free soul: bold, daring, and untamed.
It is a full-time job because you constantly work with your creative inner-self. The Princess, in addition to being an artist, was a life coach.
The Life Coach
In her youth, the Princess had wanted to study one of two things: fine arts or psychology.
Things we want when we are young always find a way around to come back and haunt us, as they did for the Princess until she started her professional career as an artist.
She studied art therapy and became a certified life coach.
A saying goes: “Talent hits a target no one else can hit, genius hits a target no one else can see.” This would not go so far as to say that each artist is a genius, but it has been the goal of every artist to display something no one else can see, to reveal the concealed.
This very same applies to life coaching. Here, the goal is to reveal a person to what is concealed from them, what they cannot see, and help them through their journey of self-actualization and realization.
This is the essence of life coaching.
The Princess spent a year and a half at the Misk Foundation, doing what she loved and enjoyed.
Here, another window opened into the future, with Princess leaving his position at Misk and starting a practice as a cultural and creative consultant. She worked on many exciting projects, including the film “Born a King.”
Princess Tarfa’s Interest
Later, the Princess spent her days at her studio, focusing on her art, developing and experimenting with the creative process through painting and other mediums.
She is obsessed with documenting scenes from daily life that appear dull to the untrained eye, a balloon floating towards a clear sky, birds, and forgotten roses on the street.
She loved looking for beauty where no one else would care to look for it.
Her perfect day she included yoga, family time, art, contemplation on self-awareness, and deep conversations with interesting people.
She loved a good meal and a little rain. Why the rain? Because when it rains, I take my canvas out, and I let the sky express itself with the help of my colors.
