“Of Yemen: the Culture and People,” a cultural photography exhibit, will be featured in the Transition Gallery located on the first floor of the Pond Student Union Building at ISU from Sept. 11 to Oct. 6.
An opening reception for the exhibit was held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Sept. 11, and the Transition Gallery will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday for students, faculty and community to view the exhibit while it is displayed throughout the month.
Aside from having various pieces on display, there will also be sales made with proceeds going towards the exhibitors’ work in Yemen. Collaborative efforts from Jacquelaine Wong and Juan Herrero have provided the exhibit. For more information, contact Corinne McCullough at 282-3451.
Presenters involved said in a press-release distributed Sept. 7 by the university that they wish to show the Yemeni culture as one of great hospitality.
“I lost myself in Yemen and I found myself in Yemen. Yemenis always say if you drink the water of Yemen, you would always come back,” Wong said in the release. Wong went on to explain the extreme diversity in religions, ethnicities, culture and tribes throughout Yemen; she said that the four months she spent in Yemen were not enough to learn all that there is to the inordinately diverse country.
Wong, born in China, was raised in the United States. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from ISU and a Master of Arts degree in Middle Eastern Politics from University of Exeter. In Yemen, she studied Arabic and worked for a local non-profit organization and a think tank. Wong will return to Yemen at the end of the year and hopes to continue Arabic studies.
Herrero hails from La Coruna, Spain and is a freelance photographer in Sana’a, Yemen. Represented by Cordon Press Agency in Spain, Herrero devotes his time to “the social reportage, video documentaries, advertising assignments and cooperation projects in developing countries.” His work has been published in magazines throughout Spain and Argentina.