My name is Afrah Nasser and I'm a blogger and freelance journalist from Yemen living in Sweden. I have been blogging since January 2010 about Yemen and, last year, CNN.com has featured me on the 10 must-read bloggers from the Middle East. -- By all that, I mean I'm really trust-worthy! ^__^

Plus, I'm very passionate about journalism and Arts. I'm very keen to tell the truth and journalism gives me the chance to do so. I'm also Arts junkie; truly believing that Arts are food for souls. On top of that; I have this habit; every morning I wake up with a strong aspiration for achieving my dreams and goals. Basically, that's what keeps me going!

One of my favorite proverbs says, “If it's dark, go and light up a candle” and through this project, I'm attempting to light up a candle in the midst of all the bleak current situation Yemen suffers from. -- I don't wanna just complain; I need to do something. I want to walk the walk.

Hence, I came up with a project that is to hold a photography exhibition about Yemen in Stockholm, titled: “Yemen Through Our Lenses”; exhibiting fascinating and creative photography works from Yemen by Yemeni photographers.

Photo by Yemeni photographer Eman Al-Awami.

I think this project is so important because it would highlight aspects of Yemen by Yemeni photographers with their artistic photography. Seriously, if you just take a look at those wonderful photos by the Yemeni photographers, you'd know what I mean!

Here is Yemeni photographer, Boushra Almutawakel depecting women's gradual invisiblity within a conservative society like Yemen, in this powerful work titled "Disappearing" which is part of her Hijab Series.

You can watch here an old clip about her and her Hijab Series project:-

And the photo below is one of my most favorite photography works by the talented Yemeni photographer, Ameen al-Ghabri. He beautifully mixed traditional fashion with today's fashion. The red fabric is one of the most traditional outfits Yemeni ladies wear when they are walking on streets, it's called "Sitara" .. and the boots looks so in! ^__^

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And here above, Yemeni photographer, Abdulrahman Jaber masterfully depicts a very paradoxical situation at a certain point in Yemen during the protests in this photo titled: "Situation". He explains, "Situation concept was born during the days of the clashes in Yemen ... During that days, many people tried to continue move on with their lives but even though .. they couldn't hide their true emotions & feelings .."

Jaber has posted a series of photos under the same title, you can view them (here). Plus, you can watch behind the scene video of shooting "Situation" here below:-

There are other many touching photography works by Yemeni photographers who will be part of the exhibition for sure.

In a nutshell, since Yemen is going through tough times, this could be one of the ways to support it. The exhibition aims to raise an interest about Yemen in general, to let the public enjoy the photography works, to support Yemeni photographers to become a bit international, and, most importantly, the exhibition's revenue would go to fund couple projects inside Yemen in cooperation with local NGOs that I personally know they would do terrific work for vulnerable groups.