Yumna Al-Arashi

Yumna Al-Arashi, born to a Yemeni father and Egyptian mother, was raised in the United States. She studied Social Inquiry at The New School in New York City and her on-going work has received support from Tribeca Film Festival, The National Portrait Gallery, The US Department of State Office of Art in Embassies, The Magnum Foundation, Photoville, The International Center for Photography, National Geographic, NOWNESS, The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC), and International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF).

With a background in both journalism and fashion, her aesthetic breathes new life into social issues such as women’s rights and human rights injustices. Her work seeks to create space for thought and discussion using an aesthetic inspired by history, nature, and the female form. Her approach to these often times delicate topics is far from conventional, as she believes strongly that traditional media so often solidifies harmful stereotypes, especially surrounding the subjects she works with in The Middle East as well as victims of human rights injustice. She often spends months researching particular subjects in order to create the most impactful, honest, and fair story.