During this year's conference we're proud to present a photographic exhibition by the award-winning photographer and photo-journalist Hayat Al-Sharif.

Hayat Al-Sharif is a photographer and photojournalist from Yemen. Her photography has focused on the everyday lives of ordinary people in Yemen, and especially women and children in the backdrop of war and hardship, struggling for a better life for themselves and their families. Hayat’s work has been recognised by several international awards, including The Prince Claus Fund (2021) and The Sheikh Saoud Al Thani Project Awards (2021).

Al-Sharif’s photography has featured in international exhibitions, newspapers, and magazines. Most recently, Hayat’s photos were exhibited in ‘Invisible Connections’ (2022), a 3D virtual exhibition organised by UNESCO and the Office of the Special Enjoy of the Secretary General for Yemen. ‘Invisible Connections’ was also on display in the Netherlands. 

In 2019, Al-Sharif worked with the World Food Programme and spent six months documenting Yemen’s humanitarian catastrophe. Her report was published in the UK-based Progressio Magazine and the photographs were exhibited in numerous exhibitions, including a group exhibition and competition by the French Culture Centre. 

Al-Sharif has also undertaken photographic assignments for the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Sana'a, Yemen’s capital and has published several articles and photo-essays in newspapers such as the National Yemen and the Yemen Post. As well as her freelance photography work, Hayat has been involved in humanitarian aid projects through a combination of consultancy, writing, and translation.

Hayat is passionate about photography and enjoys the warm reactions of the people she photographs. She considers her documentation of social issues a weapon in the face of ignorance, poverty, and dictatorship, helping to deliver the message of suffering experienced by Yemeni children and women.

In the context of multilateral conflict in Yemen, Hayat, her journalist husband Redhwan Al-Sharif, with whom she regularly collaborates, and their family were the target of frequent threats, harassment, and attacks. Despite these obstacles, Al-Sharif continued working until she and her family were forced to flee Yemen. In January 2023, Hayat and her family arrived in Stavanger, Norway where she became the city’s 13th ICORN resident.