This post is also available in: العربية (Arabic)
As people stroll the streets of Yemeni cities, they might not notice the hidden beauty of the doors and windows overlooking the streets. These passers-by might see them as regular doors and windows, just like any other fleeting objects they pass. However, if they stop and reflect, they will see that these colorful, decorative wood or iron gateways symbolize a civilizational and cultural heritage that humanity has amassed on earth as part of habit, effort, experience and talent.
With their curves and slits, windows and doors tell the stories of humanity over time. Their details and colors give them unique imprints that mirror the nature and beauty of their environment. These windows and doors may, in the eyes of a poet or artist, reveal stories that are hidden behind their panes and frames of which only traces remain, or souls that wept upon the memory of loved and departed ones. They may also see them as witnesses to great passions that were not written down as stories or poems. They are, in sum, the chemistry of the everyday aesthetics that brings together people, places and time.
The artist Saber Wasel took these photographs for us in the beautiful, ancient city of Aden, as well as other Yemeni cities, with the aim to wake us from our everyday indifference. According to him, the windows and doors
of our cities have become tired, but they still wear their beauty and reflect the weariness of our cities and their residents, whose daily view allows them to store treasures of beauty despite the exhaustion that brought them years of conflict, insecurity and a deteriorating economic situation.
Saber Wasel is a photographer and filmmaker from Aden. He loves street life and the details of its antique components, and tries to show what is the hidden behind these details in his photographic and creative works.
You can follow Saber’s artwork through his Instagram account via the following link:
Instagram.com/saberwasel
The Photo Essay:
