15 Facts About Yihye Haybi

Yihye Haybi was a Yemenite photographer of Yemenite Jewish extraction who emigrated to Mandate Palestine and finished his life in Israel.

At a time when there were no local photographers in Yemen, Haybi photographed the Jewish community to which he belonged, Europeans he encountered at the Italian medical clinic where he worked, members of the Muslim population, and even the royal family.

Yihye Haybi's photographs offer unique historical and ethnographic glimpses of Sana'a at this time, including the illicit documentation of current events.

Yihye Haybi was born in 1911 in Sana'a, what would soon become the capital of an independent Yemen.

Yihye Haybi helped his father who owned a shop selling salves, oils and creams.

Yihye Haybi then went to Italy and later returned to Eritrea.

Yihye Haybi boarded a ship he thought was heading to the Land of Israel but was actually sailing to Hodeda, Yemen.

Yihye Haybi became friendly with an Italian physician who asked Haybi to join the staff of a new clinic he was establishing in Sana'a.

Yihye Haybi worked at the doctor's clinic as a right-hand man and was responsible for ordering materials and medical supplies.

Yihye Haybi served as an interpreter between the doctor and the hospital.

Yihye Haybi received two cameras and photographic equipment from his Italian employer in Sana'a, and learned to develop his own prints.

Once in Mandate Palestine, Yihye Haybi did not continue working in photography, but he had brought with him a treasure trove of photographs of Yemen, documenting the people, events, landscapes and markets.

Yihye Haybi hoped to exhibit his photographic work after retiring, but one month after giving up his job, he died of a heart attack.

Yihye Haybi was survived by his wife, five children and seven grandchildren.

The Yihye Haybi Archives are part of the Photographic Archive of the Isidore and Anne Falk Information Center for Jewish Art and Life, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem.