YASMIN YASSIN | Should Be Good Times
STATEMENT
This exhibit features two years of seemingly disparate memories, both real and imagined, made while I waited to become a mother and the period immediately afterwards. Told in visual form, these pieces are an exploration of entering motherhood woven alongside with my Somali heritage, of understanding my own health and the imprint of all the mothers in my lineage before me, and of waiting during the so-called “in-between”—a time when I was visualizing an only slightly discernable future while I was expecting and also under lockdown during the pandemic. And even now, it is still hard to grasp.
BIO
Based in Minnesota, Yasmin is a photographer and visual artist who started documenting her travels while working as a researcher in the field visiting Indigenous communities along the west coast. Her work focuses on celebrating and highlighting stories and subcultures within communities of color and the diaspora.
With a background in science, Yasmin brings her research experience along with her to build relationships with people and understand context before creating portraits and images. Her goal is to tell stories as authentically as possible, with integrity towards the communities that invite her into their lives. Through each image, she embodies the role of a storyteller while considering the lived experiences of those captured in relation to shared spaces and environments. Her work aims to show the world from the eyes of a storyteller—in the tradition of her East African oral-storytelling heritage—and recreate feelings in her imagery using the dynamic effects of light and color.
LOCATION
Christensen Gallery | Main floor of Christensen Center, Christensen Center, 720 22nd Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55454