Socials

Carmen Yahchouchi

Biography:
Born in Bamako, Mali 1993, Carmen Yahchouchi has been in love in photography for as long as she can remember. Sensitive by nature, emotional and passionate about storytelling, she tries to venture into the intimate spaces of human experience, propelling the spectator into the unique universe of each of her subjects. In September 2015, she won the fifth edition of the Byblos Bank Award. Exhibited for Raw Talents held at Beirut’s Art Factum gallery 2016 at Byblos Bank Headquarters; Amman Image Festival in Jordan; “New World/Nouveau Monde” exhibition; Workshop with The Arab Documentary Photography Program (ADPP); Exhibited during the 32nd Salon d’Automne at the Sursock Museum. Remomero: an Italian Gallery; Blink and the New York Times Portfolio Review; The Chania Photo Festival in 2017; The 10th edition of the Estação Imagem Award in Coimbra, Portugal; Les Rencontres Photographique De Rabat 2019 and the Photography International festival called Phot’Aix in France that invited Lebanon for the 19th edition; Exhibited in Paris and Beirut to help the victims after the Beirut 2020 explosion. Carmen Yahchouchi is currently a storyteller at Reuters.

Statement:
“By listening and telling the stories of others, we come to understand that there are no stereotypes and we stand as individuals. In storytelling, I feel empathy with my subjects but the most important part is them to feel empathy with me capturing the emotion they transmit and their surroundings. That’s why photography seems to sit at the intersection of skill and humility. No matter the topic, or how distant it seems for you, it’s not until you find yourself or examine your motivation to tell a story, that your story becomes compelling with others. I am a very emotional person and I discovered that big side of myself while doing photography, with time. Without knowing, I started to see myself in my subjects ‘intimate spaces’. They are teaching me things about myself, they are showing me the world, this cold world, they leave their energies inside my soul for the rest of my life and I think that’s the power of storytelling. What better way to collectively engage in empathy than to share the images we take? Especially in a world that can be as inhumane as ours.”