A foreign perspective: lighting up the old city through the camera of photographer Jean-Baptiste Lopez

Jean Baptiste Lopez

Jean-Baptiste Lopez is a French photographer who fell in love with the old city of Sana’a sever al years ago, and has kept coming back since. This is how his work in Yemen can be better explained. He studied Audiovisual Arts in France and as a photographer has worked in Eritrea and in Yemen. He recently moved back to Sana’a where he currently lives and works on his new projects: painting his pictures with lights. 

Yemen Observer (YO): - What is your story as a photographer? 
Jean-Baptiste Lopez (JBL): -In 1995 I studied at a School of Audiovisual Arts, where I learnt about photography, sound and video. At the beginning I wanted to work on videos, which I did, but later on I realized that I did not like it that much. After that, I stopped and worked on other things not related to these studies. During that time I traveled and always continued taking pictures. Three years ago, I started a project in France taking pictures of sailboats in the French Bretagne. Then, my girlfriend went to work to Eritrea and I followed her thus starting working outside France.

YO: -What made you come to Yemen?
JBL: -I actually came here by accident. I was not attracted by Arab countries but after three months of living in Eritrea I had to leave the country in order to renew my visa. My options were Ethiopia (which was at war), Sudan (not too safe either), Djibouti (but I did not feel like going there) and then, after I met some friends who were working at the French embassy in Sana’a, there was Yemen. They proposed me to come to Yemen to renew my visa and so I did. I arrived in the old city of Sana’a at night and I fell in love with this city. I returned to Eritrea for some more months and then I came back to Yemen, and since then I kept coming back until I flew on a one-way ticket.

YO: -How many times have you visited Yemen?
JBL: - The first time I spent one month here to renew my visa, then I came another time before going back to France and then last year I spent a year here.

YO: -What is it that attracts you to Yemen?
JBL: -First of all the architecture of the old city because the old city is really something extraordinary; then the people, which I find really nice, and overall I can say that one feels really safe here in Sana’a. About the country in general, what attracts me is its variety between the mountains and the coast. I think you find everything here: the people, the architecture, the weather, the culture… I think there is everything I love.

YO: -Has your experience in Yemen changed your work in any way?
JBL: -I do not know if it was Yemen that changed my work or if it was the fact that, the more one grows up, the more one’s work develops. This process started in Eritrea and then continued after I came to Yemen, but I do not think that Yemen influenced me to work in a certain manner.

YO: -What do you try to express through your photographies?
JBL: -Many people say that people’s portraits transmit a lot of things but I do not know if this is an accident or something else. Generally, I love to take people’s pictures and when I arrive to a place and there is a group of people, men and women, there is always one that attracts me more than the others and usually that is the one with whom I will work better. Of course, I take pictures of everyone to avoid making people feel sort of jealous, but in general the best series of pictures ends up being the one I took of the person that attracted me the most. 

YO: -Is it easy to take pictures of people especially considering that drawing women or taking pictures of them is a sensitive issue in Yemen?
JBL: -The women I photographed were women that participated in the Women’s Day program (March 8, 2008), for a project organized by the French Embassy and in which I worked with Yemeni photographer Bushra al-Mutawakel. The fact that I was with Bushra made it different, but other than that I do not have pictures of women from Sana’a. Sometimes members of families that have traveled abroad allow me to take pictures of the women but it always remains something private, not to make the pictures public or anything like that.

YO: -And how was your experience working with Bushra al-Mutawakel? JBL: -Working with her was really interesting because having the chance, as a French male, to go with a female Yemeni to work on a reportage for a week is something extraordinary. In addition, her cousin accompanied her  for cultural reasons as she could not just go and travel alone with a man that is not even a member of her family. This was helpful because when we were working, her cousin stayed with me and helped me as a translator, explaining to the other women what I was doing and translating to them my questions about their culture, religion, and life. Also it was interesting to compare at the end of the day how we both portrayed the same thing.

YO: -What was the difference?
JBL: -I think the main difference is related to how you work on the pictures afterwards. I always try to improve them, working on the most important elements I see on the pictures I take: the light, a face, or whatever else. Here in Yemen they know ‘Photoshop’ but they are not familiarized with techniques to work on the pictures after taking them. In my case, I learnt with the years how to do this but in Yemen I have seen the work of other photographers and there are many things that can be improved afterwards but they don’t do it because they do not know how to do it. It is somehow similar to certain photographers in Europe that do not work on the pictures afterwards, do not retouch them, so it can be a Yemeni style in which they prefer to do not retouch their work. 

YO: -Did working with women for this project made you change your perception of Yemeni women?
JBL: -Well, working with women enabled me to ask many questions like for example the use of the ‘niqab’ or women’s condition in Yemen. When you arrive from Europe you tend to have the idea that women are oppressed here and have no rights, but talking to women, Bushra and her cousin, I learnt that is not that simple. It is a cultural issue and in general little girls want to wear the niqab to show that they are grown-ups, to imitate their mothers or their friends, and is not a restrictive issue as it is presented outside Yemen. I met a lot of girls and young women that wore the niqab because they said that men in Yemen are oppressive and many others that explained to me the niqab as something positive that they choose. There are good points and bad points about the niqab and right now I would not know where to stand. This is a very different culture, there has not been that long since I live in Yemen and I do not have many female friends here, which is a problem because if meeting and talking to women were easier I would have more arguments for or against the niqab and other issues related to women. Also you need to take into account life in the villages, where life is very different than here in Sana’a, and for instance over there I have seen many women not veiled. Overall I would say that the situation is not that bad as presented.

YO: -What do you think about the work of Yemeni photographers?
JBL: -Actually there are not many photographers here. I worked with Bushra but other than that I see pictures from other people from time to time but in an informal way. Also, and due to my own nature, I am not very curious about the work of other photographers; for instance in Europe I do not pay much attention to other’s work. I am afraid that if I look at too many pictures, even unconsciously, I will end up being influenced by them, so I prefer not to know and follow my instincts. 

YO: -What are the pictures you have taken that marked you the most?
JBL: -I think the series I took of children, which I find very expressive.

YO: -And the most difficult to do?
JBL: -Landscapes, because you can never portray all the beauty you see.

YO: -What are your future projects?
JBL: -I met the painter Nasser al-Aswadi in Paris and we talked about doing something together. Also I am in touch with Bushra and we would like to work on another project together. As for now, I am currently working on a project of ‘light painting,’ which is to draw with the lights while taking the picture. For the moment I am working on the forms and I look for different lights; for that I work with Philips, which is a new store that works on illumination and that will soon open in Sana’a; they are the ones that provide me with lamps and make the material I need. Jean-Baptiste Lopez’s work can be visited at www.fotozean.com 

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