Abi Yemane.
Filmmaker. Photographer. Curious by nature.
The world is still worth knowing.
I’ve made too many beautiful connections while traveling to keep them all to myself.
Postmarked is how I share them.
Why Postmarked?
A postcard is a small piece of somewhere else.
A photograph. A few words. A moment from a place you’ve never been, sent by someone who has.
I’ve always loved the thought behind it. Of all the things someone could have shared from their travels, they chose this. Something caught their attention, made them think of someone back home, and became worth sending.
That’s what I want Postmarked to be.
I can’t bring you everywhere I go or introduce you to everyone I meet. But I can share a little of what I find along the way.
A conversation worth remembering. A face I couldn’t forget. A moment that says more about a place than any landmark could.
Through film and photography, I give those moments somewhere to live beyond the journey itself.
Postmarked is my way of sending a little piece of the world back to you.
Curiosity is something I inherited.
I come from a lineage of travelers. People who ventured beyond what was familiar and returned with stories of a world much larger than their own.
Perhaps that’s why I’ve never been satisfied with simply knowing that a place exists. I want to know what life feels like there.
What does an ordinary morning look like? What do people celebrate? What do they worry about? What traditions have survived generations, and which ones are changing?
The questions are endless. That’s part of the appeal.
The more I travel, the more I realize how much of the world remains unfamiliar to me.
And I like that.
I don’t want to lose that curiosity.
A world beyond what we’re shown.
It’s remarkable how much we can think we know about a place we’ve never been.
A headline. A photograph. A story repeated often enough that it begins to feel like the whole truth.
Entire countries become synonymous with conflict. Communities become stereotypes. People become representatives of circumstances they never chose.
But there’s always more to the story.
The places we hear about are also places where people fall in love, raise families, make art, argue with their neighbors, celebrate birthdays, and go about the ordinary business of being human.
None of that erases the difficult realities. It’s simply part of the picture, too.
I’m interested in what happens when we look beyond the narratives we’re familiar with and give people room to speak for themselves.
Not everyone I meet will challenge a stereotype or offer some profound revelation. Nor should they have to.
Sometimes a conversation is just a conversation. Sometimes we disagree. Sometimes I leave with more questions than I arrived with.
Postmarked isn’t about finding a beautiful lesson in every encounter. It’s about being present for whatever the encounter has to offer.
There’s a whole world beyond what we’ve been told about it.
I want to discover it.
We deserve to see the world for ourselves.
For a long time, the image of an explorer has been a familiar one.
And it hasn’t always looked like me.
As a Black woman traveling independently, I know that who I am shapes how I experience a place, how others experience me, and the stories I notice along the way.
That perspective belongs in travel storytelling.
I want more Black women to see themselves in places they may have never imagined going. Not as exceptions, but as people who have every right to be curious, adventurous, uncertain, and completely at home in their desire to explore.
We can go and see for ourselves.
At the same time, my identity is a perspective, not a boundary.
I’m interested in people whose lives resemble mine and people whose experiences couldn’t be more different.
There is no single kind of person I want to meet, no particular story someone has to have, and no one way a journey needs to unfold.
I want the freedom to follow my curiosity wherever it takes me.
Some stories move. Others stay still.
FilmSome moments need more than a photograph.
A pause before someone answers. The sound of a busy street. A joke that doesn’t quite translate. The way a conversation changes when everyone forgets about the camera.
I love what film makes possible.
It allows a story to unfold at its own pace, with all the movement, sound, uncertainty, and personality that come with being there.
I want you to hear the voices, notice the details, and feel as though you’ve spent a little time with the people I meet.
Not simply learn about them.
PhotographyOther moments ask for something different.
A face in the afternoon light. Two strangers sharing a laugh. A scene that lasts only a second but stays in your mind much longer.
That’s where photography comes in.
I shoot on film because I love the attention it asks of me. There’s no endless stream of frames to choose from. I have to notice what matters, make a decision, and trust the moment.
And sometimes, what I thought I was photographing isn’t what I end up remembering.
That’s part of its beauty.
Film lets me return to a conversation.
Photography lets me return to a moment.
Together, they become my postcards.
Maybe we’re not so far apart.
I don’t think traveling automatically makes us more open-minded. And I don’t believe that getting to know someone means we’ll always understand them.
People are complicated. So is the world we share.
There are differences that matter. Histories that cannot be overlooked. Experiences that aren’t ours to claim.
I don’t want Postmarked to pretend otherwise.
But I do believe there’s value in remaining curious about one another, especially when it would be easier not to.
In asking another question instead of settling for an assumption.
In recognizing that someone can live a life entirely different from ours and still have something to teach us.
I hope Postmarked gives people a reason to look a little closer.
To consider a place differently. To approach someone with curiosity.
Maybe a story will change someone’s mind. Maybe it will inspire a journey. Maybe it will simply make them smile.
I think all of those things are worth sharing.
Because despite everything that divides us, I still believe we’re worth getting to know.
The first postcards are still to come.
The first season of Postmarked takes me across Southeast Asia.
Five countries, each with its own people, rhythms, histories, and ways of life.
I know where I’m going.
What I don’t know is who I’ll meet, which conversations will stay with me, or what I’ll understand differently by the time I leave.
Those are the parts I can’t plan.
And the parts I’m most looking forward to.
- IVietnamIn pre-production
- IIThailandIn pre-production
- IIILaosIn pre-production
- IVMalaysiaIn pre-production
- VTo comeTo be announced
Short biography
Abi Yemane is a filmmaker, analog photographer, and the creator of Postmarked, a travel storytelling project centered on people, culture, and human connection.
Through film and photography, she explores places through the lives and perspectives of the people she encounters, bringing together documentary-inspired storytelling, personal observation, and analog imagery.
Her work is guided by curiosity, an interest in everyday human experiences, and the belief that there is always more to discover beyond the stories we already know.
I’m Abi, and these are my postcards from the world.
Abi
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