ADIAM: PHOTOGRAPHER

Adiam Yemane, has been part of 100 Journeys for over a year and states that the project has helped her ‘take ownership of her identity as a refugee’.  Adiam is a 27-year-old photographer based in London. Born in Ethiopia, Adiam was raised in Eritrea and matured in England. She left Eritrea at 12 years old to escape the dictatorship, which continues to the present day.

‘It would have been unsafe for me to live there as I am half Ethiopian and there was a war with Ethiopia. My family found a way for me to leave, which was difficult and dangerous, by paying someone to bring me over. I was put into foster care as soon as I got to London and then moved to semi-independent accommodation when I was 16.’

Adiam’s photography reflects her passion for people and place, she is particularly interested in documentary and portrait photography. Several of her projects to date have featured the sea, shorelines and the beach, presenting them as places of peace, calm and positivity. At the beginning of 2020, Adiam spent an extended period in Dakar, Sénégal, where her work traversed landscape and portraiture, encouraging us to explore the relationship between people and place. An idea which has particular importance within the refugee experience.

‘Knowing that my head will be seen in locations across the world really ties in with the one-line thought I picked to accompany the sculpture – “citizen of the world”. It’s incredible to think that people I won’t ever meet will see my face. It’s empowering as a black woman for my head to be physically taking up these spaces. As a woman, an immigrant and refugee it’s the kind of change I want to see. It’s almost an act of activism to see my face in spaces you wouldn’t ordinarily.’

ADIAMYEMANE.COM | @adiamyemane_