The Daughters of Yemen | بنات اليمن is an ongoing photographic project that explores the experiences of first- and second-generation Yemeni Muslim women in the United States, shaped by migration, assimilation, and generational cultural tension. Grounded in my Yemeni American identity, this work looks closely at how women navigate visibility, gendered expectations, and cultural inheritance while living between the pull of tradition and the realities of contemporary Western life.
The project combines images in which I use my own body as a stand-in for women who have shared their stories but cannot be photographed due to cultural taboos, alongside portraits of women from my community who have given permission to be photographed. When serving as a surrogate, I wear their garments and intentionally embody their gestures, postures, and mannerisms, constructing images that evoke a sense of collective presence instead of individual likeness. The repetition of garments, poses, and visual motifs throughout the project highlights shared identities, as well as the material and cultural realities that shape how these women are represented.
The images exist in an in-between space, where traditional Yemeni dresses, hair wraps, and silver jewelry are styled alongside contemporary Western elements. This visual language calls attention to the cultural shifts that occur through migration and assimilation, and to the ways these processes reshape ideas of authenticity, memory, and belonging—particularly for Yemeni women navigating patriarchal expectations across multiple cultural contexts.
To protect anonymity and honor Islamic beliefs that caution against the depiction of living forms, I digitally obscure the skin by painting and drawing Yemeni silver jewelry directly onto the photographs. This act functions as both concealment and adornment, transforming the body into a symbolic site of protection, memory, and cultural continuity. Jewelry—often passed down through generations—becomes a visual language through which absence is marked, and presence is reclaimed.
Through The Daughters of Yemen, I aim to honor untold narratives and create a visual archive for Yemeni American women whose stories are frequently unseen and unheard. The project invites viewers to consider the complexities of assimilation, gender, and belonging within the diaspora, while affirming the resilience and evolving identities of Yemeni women in the United States.
^
