Yumna Al-Arashi

Yumna Al-Arashi Instagram – I find it fascinating how social media has so masterfully reduced our understandings of the world into simplified terms, leaving us in vulnerable and confused positions at best. So vulnerable, in fact, that many of us found ourselves applauding a largely problematic group of rebels in Yemen for their actions against imperial forces a few months ago. Myself included.
Sometimes I wonder if this obsidian gaze into conflicts distances us so much from them that we feel as though we are watching a film, waiting for any viable hero to save the story. But this isn’t a film, we aren’t a passive audience, and there won’t be a hero who saves us from this mess we are collectively in.
I wrote about a lesser-known yet rich history of anti-imperialism in Yemen, one which has spanned much longer than what we see on social media today. I wrote about the works of my aunt, the painter Elham Al-Arashi, a Yemeni woman who taught me what it means to make art around notions of resistance. Elham, one of many people in my family who gave me tools to continue the work that she and others from our community have been doing for centuries.
Thank you to @leopold_lambert_ for working through this piece with me, and to my sister @haia.mawad for the forever support.
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(last slide is a baby me in 2012 photographing Elham’s paintings on our rooftop in Aden before she sent them to exhibit in Gaza) | Posted on 06/May/2024 21:03:04