The First National Exhibition hopes to awaken interest and give insights into history through its meanings and codes, in order to preserve and protect the sense of state and national unity.
Six identity codes will be under the spotlight in the exhibition: state emblems; currencies; national anthems; dress of political leaders in different historical periods, and stamps and flags.
This First National State dress and identity codes exhibition, at the Cultural House in Sana’a from August 20 to 30, covers four periods of Yemen’s contemporary history, from 1948 until 2004.
The exhibition, organized by the Cultural Development Program Foundation (CDPF), hopes to encourage contributions and participation from visitors, and give an in-depth insight into history via the official state and identity codes.
Objectives of the Project: to preserve the unity of the nation through an understanding of the past and relating the State to the nation and people. The CDPF works towards this goal by offering a visual memory of the contemporary history of Yemen to younger generations of both sexes. Secondly, it deepens younger generations’ sense of partnership in our history and understanding its shortcomings and strengths, and offers an optimistic vision of the future which everyone can achieve by working together..
The Exhibition Wings: The exhibition is distributed through the four wings, arranged chronologically. The first wing represents the decade from 1948 until 1958, and Yemen’s disintegration into sub-states. The second wing, covering 1959 to 1967, was a period of striving for independence and unity. The third represents the two separated states for 26 years, from 1968 till 1989. The fourth and last wing covers the Unification.
Special displays have been designed for the exhibition by Yemeni experts. A metal skeleton was made for a clothes display, and a stand was created for stamps and currencies. Great attention has been given to the last two codes of identity which are concerned with stamps, flags or banners.
Dr. Raufa Hassan Al-Sharqi, CDPF chairwoman, says that people, particularly the younger generation, often hold mistaken beliefs concerning their history, sometimes believing things to be part of Yemeni culture when they are not and vice versa.
The exhibition hopes to clarify many erroneous beliefs through the codes of identity.
Division of the Exhibition Wings: The exhibition wings are divided onto four interrelated periods. Glass doors, to give a sense of continuity, were created bearing symbols representing the political, local and international characteristics of each time. Picture frames, made to hold photographs of political leaders, use the same material as the stands, giving the exhibition a greater degree of harmony.
Wing One: State Emblems: the details of emblems are displayed with an historical background of their use during the daily functions.
Wing Two: State Flags and Banners: Flags and banners are give global identities of a state or political regime in a certain geographical location. They reveal essential information about culture, history and foreign affairs. They are issued by a law and the ways of raising and lowering them follow systematic regulations. Children in schools are taught and instructed to respect them as a symbol of their identity.
Wing Three: National Anthems: three patterns of national anthems of Yemen are revealed. On display are lyrics, musical scores, and information about the lyricists and composers. A band will perform the anthems during the exhibition. Research is continuing to find remaining anthems and it is hoped they will be made available in the second exhibition, to be held in the city of Mukhalla.
In the four wings samples are provided of political or state dress for men and some women engaged in political activities. There are photographs of almost all Yemen’s political leaders, divided into four categories.
1- The State Ruler (President, King, Sultan or Prince)
2- Executive Leaders (First Minister, Prime Minister)
3-Legislative Leaders or Judges (elected or non-elected)
4-Wives of leaders, if they appeared in any public events or those women that held seats of state.
There are also photographs of presidents and state rulers, government or legislative councils, with a biography for each, and examples of female dress where women attended public ceremonies.
Wing Four: Leaders and Dress: from a political point of view, dress is seen as identifying individuals, and state or political regimes, as pertaining to a certain geographical location or part of a wider culture. Some of the pieces on display were made famous in their day, while others gained notoriety from the individuals who wore them. Different types of disman, emama (a type of headwear worn by Sultans in the 1940s and 50s) will be on display. The exhibition has two disman from the period, once worn by Sultan Ali Abdul-Karim Al-Abdli of Lahj, who was exiled for his resistance to the British colonizers. He was replaced by Sultan Fadhl bin Ali.
Examples of political leaders' dress are exhibited, accompanied by histories of the different periods and the surrounding political, social and environmental circumstances.
Wing Five: Currencies: Historically speaking, while starting out as a true emblem of a state rule and indicator of economic strength, currencies bear insights into history, culture, the economy and foreign affairs of a state.
The exhibition has all manner of paper and minted currencies since 1948 on view, and will host discussions on the legal, scientific and technical data according to which coins were minted.
The currencies on show were provided by both private collectors and experts, among them Afif Al-Barakani, Mohammed Abdu Kassim Al-Dobari, and Nadia Al-Kokabani.
Wing Six: Postal Stamps: Stamps often form records of historical events and insights into intellectual and ideological views. The stamps exhibited pose many questions worthy of further research.
Dr. Raufa said also that the exhibition hoped also to provoke younger generations’ interest in their culture and make them aware of how is diversified it is, thereby giving them a source of pride.
The Cultural Development Program Foundation would like to thank all supporters of the project and those who volunteered their time and effort to help this exhibition come to be, including those who kindly provided the exhibition with photographs, clothes, dresses and other items for display. A list of all their names can be found at the exhibition.