Taiz.. A cultural symposium highlights the status of the audio-visual archive in Yemen

Today, Sunday, in the city of Taiz, the Arneada Foundation for Cultural Development and the Press House held a symposium entitled “Yemen’s Archives... A Legacy Struggling with Extinction” on the occasion of the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage.

The symposium, which was held in the Al-Thulaia Hall at the Faculty of Arts, included a miniature photo exhibition, which displayed a number of archaeological photos taken by local and foreign lenses of tourists, politicians, doctors and pilots who visited Yemen during the twentieth century.

The symposium, which was attended by many representatives of the local authority in Taiz and civil society organizations, also screened a short film documenting scenes of the lives of Yemenis, as well as archaeological sites in different areas of Taiz, from before the September 26 Revolution until the 1980s.

Adam Al-Hussami, Chairman of the Arneada Foundation for Cultural Development, stressed the importance of preserving the audio-visual heritage, saying: “Peoples’ awareness of the importance of their memory and legacy will push them to appreciate all those who contributed to its preservation.”

Al-Hussami added: “It may occur to many that the meaning of audio-visual archives is limited to radio and television materials, video and audio recordings, such as old records or tapes, but the breadth of this concept and its relationship to Yemen will take us back to ancient times and a long history.”

Professor Mohammed Al-Haribi, founder of the Press House Initiative, pointed out that the activity implemented by the initiative in partnership with the Arniada Foundation came within the framework of keenness to document the Yemeni archive, especially the audio and visual archive of Taiz Governorate.

Al-Haribi added: “We hope that this symposium will be the beginning of an effective movement that will contribute to directing the attention of the relevant international organizations, headed by UNESCO, to the status of the audio-visual archives of Taiz Governorate, especially the archives of Taiz Radio and Al-Jumhuriya newspaper.”

The symposium reviewed working papers that included four axes: the photographic archive of the governorate, the audio archive of Taiz Radio, the visual archive of Yemeni TV, in addition to the archive of Al-Jumhuriya newspaper.

The speakers discussed the challenges facing audiovisual heritage, ways to archive it, the direct effects of war on the archives of various media outlets, and the possibility of restoring it.

The symposium was attended by former Taiz Radio broadcaster Anisa Mohammed Saeed, photographer Fahd Al-Dharafi, television director Ahmed Al-Bakari, and head of the union committee at Al-Jumhuriya newspaper Bilal Al-Mariri.

The symposium witnessed many interventions from the attendees, who stressed the importance of preserving the audio-visual heritage and the need to create initiatives to document and preserve it from loss.

The event included a photographic exhibition from the library of documentarian Fahd Al-Dharafi, which included photos taken by 14 foreign and Arab photographers, including ambassadors, diplomats, pilots and engineers who visited Yemen in previous historical periods and documented many scenes and landmarks of life, in addition to photos by the dean of photographers of Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula, Ahmed Omar Al-Absi.