Yemen & Image Politics: Weapon, Qat & Misogyny

*Visualization is an integral part of how we perceive the world, so visual images about Yemen do construct how Yemen is perceived. That’s the case, as well, in how Yemenis perceive each other. Having said that, I tackle Yemen and Image Politics on two levels. One, how western media use images to portray Yemen? Second, how Yemenis use images to narrate stories about each other. Between the misleading political image and misogynic image, images from Yemen are confusing.


Yemen’s Image in Western Media

It is difficult to tell when exactly the relationship between the western media and the Old Sana’a’s beautiful architecture began. That relationship was contagious that it was duplicated in the Arab media. No doubt that the Old Sana’a’s dazzling architecture is difficult to ignore; but as I just mentioned, it’s called the “Old” Sana’a; meaning that there is a new one. To box all Yemen, with all its cities and diversity, in a bunch of images from the Old Sana’a is not only doing injustice to the rest of Yemen’s cities and their beauty, but it also gives a flawed impression that Yemen is just the Old Sana’a. And when western media wants to dig deeper into Yemenis’ lives, it boxes their lives in limited topics about weapons, tribal culture and Qat, and other easy and repeated topics.


The image of an Arab has always been demeaned in Western media; we are told that we, Arabs are barbarians, terrorists and uncivilised. Yemen falls into that stereotyped image which perhaps can be summarised in the “Salmon Fishing in -the- Yemen” movie. The movie demonstrates to be one of the best movies that wrongly portray Yemen. It’s based on the novel with the same title for a novelist that has never been to Yemen. The movie crew, including the actors and the actresses never been to Yemen, as well. The movie was never shot in Yemen. How can we have a movie depicting a country without touching its ground for real is something I don’t understand!

Images’ Use among Yemenis

As movies are discussed, here is a Yemeni movie that’s one of the best movies that genuinely used images to relate to Yemenis. “I am Nojoom, Age 10 and Divorced” by the Yemeni filmmaker, Khadija al-Salami is a movie inspired by the book “I Am Nujood, Aged 10 and Divorced” which was about the real story of the Yemeni child Nujood who is believed to be the first Yemeni child to get divorced in Yemen. The movie was shot in Yemen and following its release has won several international awards. The movie is genuine and honest; its message is to raise awareness about the child marriage tragedy in Yemen. Unfortunately, the movie has not been shown in Yemen, due to the absence of established cinema and, most importantly, the consecutive occurrence of armed conflicts and violence, since the release date of the movie in 2014. This made politics dominate any intellectual and cultural debate in the country.

Media in Yemen is obsessed by a political debate that mainly revolves around today’s political leaders. For instance, topics that dominate media in Yemen are the states of the ousted president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, president, Abdurabou Mansour Hadi, and Houthis’ leader, Abdelmalik al Houthi. Images about this or that political leader represent a mirror in which Yemenis see through each other. Polarisation is extreme and any middle ground is inevitably absent.

In this regard, one of the issues that concerned me the most is the issue of Misogyny and how images are used in Yemen’s political debate. Throughout the past 5 years, since the beginning of Yemen’s 2011 uprising, and along the way with my blogging experience, I found one pattern of a concept being repeated whenever images are used and meant to demean a political leader. That is, whenever any political camp wants to insult another political camp, the easiest thing to do is to portray him as a woman. For example, when ousted president Saleh is meant to be demeaned, he’s being portrayed with full make-up and jewellery so he can supposedly look like a woman. In that way, there is an association being drawn between a demeaned status for men and being a female; an expression of an insult is channelled by describing the other as a female.

I collected the following images over the past five years. As the political phases in Yemen develop, Yemen’s social media users seemed busy designing and posting these images - which sometimes found their way to the streets’ protests as posters. 

Speaking of protests, the world was impressed in 2011 by Yemeni women’s participation. Little did they know that those women were to a large extent affiliated to the second largest political party, the Muslim-brotherhood version in Yemen, Al-Islah party. Their participation was only out a decorative move. However, the women who took the streets independently, challenging ousted president Saleh’s regime and Patriarchy -which obliges a gender-based segregation between the two sexes in public space- did not receive the same worldwide attention; even worse, they were doomed to be hit by the walls of Patriarchy. These women’s rebellion provoked Yemeni men. At the beginning of Yemen’s 2011 uprising, a group of men and women tried to hold a gender-mixed protest, but the protest was not only fated to be dispersed but also to be violently attacked. In particular, the women had the biggest share of humiliation and assault.

The perception that women are inferior exists in Yemen; as much as, it exists in the Arab world. Women are believed to be “3awrah“. At the start of the Arab Spring, a group of Arab feminists created a page on Facebook that calls for the uprising of women in the Arab world. People rushed to the page with their posts, protesting against how females are treated in the Arab world; as 2nd class citizens, if not even worse. I was struck by this post from Yemen, which dismays any claim that says women in Yemen are not perceived as inferior. 

(I am Shima’a Al-Ahdel with the Uprising of women in the Arab world. My brother is ashamed to say my name and my mother’s name.)

The problem of insulting a male political leader by describing him as a female is something that a Yemeni man won’t understand unless we reverse the meaning. I once had a discussion with a Yemeni male friend who used to like using sexy women images on his facebook to tease and provoke the rival political camp. “I don’t mean to insult women,” he told me, “I just want to tease my enemies.” I said, have you ever seen a woman using images of sexy men to insult her enemies?” My friend stopped to do such moves after he understood my point.

The issue of “Misogyny” and media is a global problem and it doesn’t only exist in Yemen, but it is rarely discussed in the Arab and Yemeni media. We often condemn how western media portray us, Arabs; but we don’t condemn how our media portray our women. And here, Yemeni media concerns me the most.


Since the beginning of Yemen’s 2011 uprising and one conflict after another has been spinning the country around -which made life or death matters prioritised in whatever discussion being brought up about this impoverished country. Amidst all the bloodshed, there is no space for free and refreshing discussion. For instance, I wrote this article while bearing in mind two things: that this topic is refreshing to me from the perspective of media theories and practices, and gender theories. The second thing: I know that there is a so-called “this is not the right time to talk about this” camp awaiting me to undermine the importance of this topic. My desire to navigate an intellectual topic about the stereotyped image about Yemen in media won over my anxiety from the so-called “this is not the right time to talk about this” camp. And that is how I managed to write the article.

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*This article was originally published on Raseef22.com in Arabic, 5th July 2016.

Yemeni Photographers Fight Despair and Trauma of War

My latest feature published on Middle East Eye about what I discovered at the recent photography workshop at The Yemeni Salon in Jordan.

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Abdulrahman Jaber used models to pose as war-weary Yemeni bride and groom for his 'Situation'
series of images (Courtesy of Abdulrahman Jaber)

It is nearly one year since the Saudi-led coalition began their bombing campaign in Yemen and Yemenis are constantly trying to find new ways to express their feelings about the tragedy unfolding in their country.

For Yemeni photographers who had to leave their homeland, they are not only turning to their photographic craft to cope with the pain of longing and separation from their families and loved ones, but they are also creating alternative narratives about the reality of what it now means to be Yemeni. A narrative that goes beyond the headlines and one which tells the stories of the people on the ground and those forced into the diaspora.

This relationship between the war and displaced Yemeni photographers was the topic explored at a two-day workshop in Jordan last month run by the Yemeni Salon Organisation. Founded in 2012 by myself and my colleague Hana al-Khamri, the Yemeni Salon organisation is a diaspora group focusing on cultural and media empowerment projects about Yemen.

As a Yemeni who has been in self-exile in Sweden for the past five years, I prepared myself for the discomfort of seeing how the diaspora is expanding – a sign of how tragic the situation in Yemen is – and how we are finding ourselves in a position where we must be the voice of our people. I knew the workshop would be emotionally exhausting as it addressed heartbreaking stories about the conflict and subsequent displacement.

The work of the photographers certainly presented a very different view of the situation in Yemen compared to the narrative presented in mainstream media.

Despite being scattered around the world, the photographers' work showed how the war impacted each of them - and revealed their resilience. Among the five Yemeni photographers exhibited, two of them - Abdulrahman Jaber and Yasmin Al-Nadheri - had a particularly deep impact on me; so let me present their work.


My father’s last days

When Yemeni photographer and designer Abdulrahman Jaber decided to leave Yemen after the war broke out last year, little did he know that he was about to face the most difficult experience of his life: the death of his father while he was abroad. His passion for photography was to play an important role in how he fought the agony of the deeply felt loss.

Jaber’s interest in photography goes back to before the war. “I’m a designer who’s a shy photographer,” said Jaber. Jaber’s modesty is admirable, given that his photography and design work in Yemen have been receiving great attention since 2005. His particular brand of photograph is usually characterised by it's stylishness and simplicity. When the revolution erupted in 2011, Jaber was one of the first local photographers who rushed to Change Square in Yemen's capital Sanaa. It would be rare to see him without his camera, as so much of his time was taken up capturing inspiring moments from the epicentre of the revolution.

Following the armed clashes in Sanaa at the end of 2011, Jaber was inspired to showcase how the people of the city were attempting to forget about the seemingly constant hail of bullets and the sound of gunfire, and to just go on with their lives.

"I was struck by how it was becoming the norm that you would be at a wedding with loud celebratory music being played and dancing people swirling around while you could hear the sound of gunfire echoing just outside as different groups were clashing. The people at the wedding weren’t panicking nor would they stop the wedding party,” explains Jaber, they just carried on.

That is how his series of photographs titled Situation was born, depicting the strong desire of the people to continue their normal lives, despite what was going on around them.

Abdulrahman Jaber tries to show the reality of a wedding day in a Yemen at war. Togetherness and tradition combined with the unavoidable elements of the war raging on the streets of Sana'a (Courtesy of Abdulrahman Jaber)

The artist tries to depict how Yemeni's continue living their lives despite war (Courtesy of Abdulrahman Jaber)

Brides are supposed to be the happiest on their special day, yet in his 'Situation' series of photos Jaber depicts brides in Sana'a as being worn out by the fierce armed fighting that does not pause for their big day (Courtesy of Abdulrahman Jaber)

A portrait of the groom in Jaber's 'Situation' series. He wears a soldier's hat to symbolise the
violence in the city which rages on (Courtesy of Abdulrahman Jaber)

As the war raged around him, in March 2015, Jaber turned his camera to his private life and made the brave and candid decision to document and share one of the most poignant events in his life - the death of his father. 

“Due to the deteriorating security situation and the worsening health care services, it was extremely difficult to obtain the crucial medical assistance for my father, especially when he needed it the most,” says Jaber.

In the course of Jaber’s father being medicated at home and increasing numbers of visits to the hospital, Jaber made the decision to document his father’s last days. Jaber explains: “I created a journal of photographs of him while I was in Sanaa and when I left to go to Turkey, my brother, Suhaib, continued taking the photos. It was just a few weeks after I left that I received the devastating news that my father had passed away.

"I had to share the photographs. I called the collection of his final images My Father’s Last Day. While the pictures certainly say volumes about the harsh reality of life in Yemen, I think sharing these pictures is a way to celebrate the memory of my beloved father too.” 

A portrait of Jaber's late father, Hassen Mohammed Jaber during the last days of his life (Courtesy of Abdulrahman Jaber)

Jaber's father often got daily check-ups from one of his sons (Courtesy of Addulrahman Jaber)

After a struggle to get him the help he needed, Jaber's father was admitted to
hospital for treatment (Courtesy of Abdulrahman Jaber)

Following the struggle to get Jaber's father admitted to hospital, family members always
 made sure to surround him with love and support (Courtesy of Abdulrahman Jaber)

Jaber's father in his funeral shroud before being laid to rest. Photo taken by Suhaib Jaber (Courtesy of Abdulrahman Jaber)

Jaber's father is now buried in Sana'a (Courtesy of Abdulrahman Jaber)

The truthfulness and sincerity in this series are so strong because it also mirrors a greater picture of many Yemeni families losing loved ones due to the deteriorating health services.

Jaber today is trying to make sense of his new place in Turkey and he continues to immerse himself in more design and photography work.

Photography beyond borders

Social activist Yasmin al-Nadhri attributes her recent interest in photography to her lifelong passion for art and fashion. When she left Sanaa to go to Egypt for work just days before the war broke out, she had no clue that she would be leaving Yemen for good and would end up utilising photography as means to relate to the war in her country.

Her scheduled flight back to Sanaa coincided with the exact day that the Saudi-led coalition began its air strikes against Yemen; all flights home were cancelled.

With just the few clothes she had with her, al-Nadhri found herself stranded in Egypt. Due to the war and the increasingly tense security situation, she decided that going home was not a safe option and has not been back since.

During her travels for work going between Egypt, Germany, and Jordan, she kept a close eye on developments in Yemen through social media networks and has contributed to photography projects and initiatives taking place inside the country, including the #YemeniWomenBike (2015) and #YemenCoffeeBreak campaigns.

Her belief in the urgency of enhancing women's rights in Yemen compelled al-Nadhri to participate in the Yemen Women Bike campaign with photos not only intended to support the campaign but also to amplify women’s voices in the light of the war.

Despite her frustration of being stranded in Egypt, al-Nadhri created a photography collection depicting a Yemeni female in a modernised version of Yemeni women’s traditional outdoors-outfit known as sitar, while biking near the pyramids in Cairo.

“The context of Yemen at war inspired me to take this photo,” explains al-Nadhri, “seeing my country from far away being devastated by the war broke my heart. Yet, all the while our women and girls are fighting for their rights. I needed to show my support. I took the photo in Egypt hoping to show another side of the war and show that even stranded Yemenis want to show their connection to their homeland.” 

A photo of Yasmin al-Nadhri in a modernised version of Yemeni women’s traditional outdoors-outfit known as sitar - taken for the #YemeniWomenBike campaign (Courtesy of Yasmin al-Nadhri)

When it came to the #YemenCoffeeBreak campaign, al-Nadhri again had the urge to participate in the campaign, despite being in Jordan. She went to the Amman Citadel and took a photo depicting a woman holding Yemeni coffee in the palms of her hand.

Al-Nadhri used the great resemblance between the Citadel and the throne of Queen Bilquis in Yemen’s Marib city. “While Yemen is increasingly becoming polarised and divided, more so each day, coffee was one of the few things that still united the people. Coffee was actually a message of peace for many of us who participated in the initiative,” al-Nadhri says.

“With both photos I thought it was important to show the role of photography in supporting and uniting our community; more specifically to show that photography goes beyond borders.” Al-Nadhri made the decision not to show her face in the photos to emphasise that the images could be timeless and conceptual.

A Yemeni woman at the Amman Citadel holding Yemeni coffee in the palms of her hand (Courtesy of Yasmin al-Nadhri)

Spanish artist Pablo Picasso once said: “Art is the lie that enables us to realise the truth.” The alternative narrative created by these photographers for what is taking place in Yemen is artistic, but it also seeks to tell a different truth. Between fiction and non-fiction, their work has empowered the photographers to fight despair and trauma.