Students

Mona Benyamin is a filmmaker and audio-visual artist. She joins the program from Palestine. Mona’s research interests include media theory, semiotics, phenomenology, and personal and collective cultural memory in Palestine. She most recently created the short films Tomorrow, again (2023); Moonscape (2020); and Trouble in Paradise (2018).

https://www.monabenyamin.com/

Tara Rodríguez Besosa (they/them/elle) is an interdisciplinary designer and organizer. They join the program from Borikén and came here with their dog Pulpa. Tara’s interests center around the non-human, rights of nature, food sovereignty, the Caribbean, and QTBIPOC liberation. Tara is co-founder and creative director of the collective El Departamento de la Comida and resident of OtraCosa Jaragüal Cuir (queer land project).

João Felipe R. Ferreira is a researcher and cultural producer. He joins the program from Campinas, Brazil. João’s research interests focus on forced displacement, humanitarianism, media art, and curatorial studies. He most recently cofounded the project Rede ArteRefúgio (ArtRefuge Network).

Selo is a carpet weaver and former political prisoner. They come to us from Anatolia (of Yörük lineage) via Berlin. Selo’s research interests focus on weaving, handicraft, and poetry. They were most recently an initiator of both the Autonomous Zone and the Tatreez Circle at Bard College Berlin.

Nádia Yracema is a performance artist. She joins the program from Angola by way of Lisbon (Portugal). Nádia’s research interests focus on memory, ancestrality, migration, blackness and the process of dreaming and re-writing futures. She is cofounder of Aurora Negra theater company, the KILOMBO Festival, and the União Negra das Artes (Black Art Union, UNA).

Sariyah Bonnita Jaser Abuzant is a producer and project manager. She joined the program from Palestine by way of Maryland, United States. Sariyah’s research interests focus on conflict resolution in the context of Palestine and community building. Her thesis project is titled "FordDat." It took the form of a docufiction film.

Ali Hussein Al-Adawy is a critic, curator, and researcher. He joined the program from Alexandria, Egypt. Ali’s research interests center around representations of labor in film and art, the shifting dynamics of art spaces in times of permanent catastrophe, and the relationship between the circulation of images, human rights, and financialization. His thesis project is titled “Purity Is A Matter of An Effective Sewage System: Human Rights and Contemporary Art from Institution to Infrastructure.” It took the form of a written academic thesis.

Majd Al-Rafie is a graphic designer, illustrator, and activist. She joined the program from Amman, Jordan. Majd’s research interests include Arab queer politics, Palestinian liberation, and art in activism. Her thesis project is titled “'Tassako': The Politics of Street Art Culture in Amman.” It took the form of a written academic thesis.

http://majdalrafie.cargo.site

Sarah Al Yahya is a creative technologist and researcher. She joined the program from Amman, Jordan. Sarah’s research interests center on the decolonial and other sociopolitical potential of new media art, Palestine, and the SWANA region. Most recently, her interactive installation YOU ARE NOT HERE showed at the 2023 Ars Electronica Festival in Linz. Her thesis project is titled "Livestreamed Genocide: TikTok LIVE in Gaza." It took the form of an interactive installation.

https://sarahalyahya.me

Anas Alkhatib is an architect, dancer, and spatial researcher. He joined the program from Palestine. Anas’ practice focuses on spatial violence documentation, architectural visualization, and cartography. He is the founder of Architect In Camps” (Me’mar) collective, a multidisciplinary architectural studio. His thesis project is titled “Designed by Our Hands.” It took the form of a hybrid output combining an article-length essay and an architecture design manual.

Tâm Liêu Âm is an artist.

Amr Amer is a writer, producer, rapper, and performer. He joined the program from Ramallah, Palestine. Amr’s research interests include endangered music and other practices in his region. His most recent album is ili. His thesis project is titled "Calls from an Unseen Chorus." It took the form of a sound installation.

Haykal

Nour Annan is a writer, photographer, and inter-disciplinary artist. She joined the program from Lebanon. Nour’s research interests include collective cultural memory and contemporary revolutionary politics. She is a former editor at Rusted Radishes: Beirut Literary and Art Journal. Her thesis project is titled “The Golden Age Is Out of Joint: Photography, Catastrophe, and the Politics of Nostalgia in Lebanon.” It took the form of a hybrid output combining an article-length essay and a lecture performance.

Elie Arden is a sound designer, installation maker, and performer. She joined the program from the United Kingdom by way of London. Elie’s research interests focus on the relationship between sound and diasporic memory, artificial intelligence, and ecology. Her thesis project is titled "Conducting Empire: “Free” Trade and the Transatlantic Cable Network." It took the form of a lecture performance.

https://elinorarden.cargo.site/

Pyae Phyo Aung is a journalist, researcher, and digital content creator. He joined the program from Myanmar. His research interests include community-based ethnography, storytelling, authoritarian regimes, and digital rights. His thesis project is titled "'Late pyar lone lar?' In Search of A Clear Conscience in Myanmar’s Spring Revolution." It took the form of a written academic thesis.

Raneem Ayyad is a multidisciplinary researcher, architect, and visual artist. She joined the program from Palestine. Her research focuses on the intersections between the built environment and heritage, with an interest in colonial relations and gender dynamics in Palestine and post-colonial contexts. Raneem is a co-director for the Architect In Camps (Me’mar) collective. Her thesis project is titled “Where Do We Meet The Sun?” It took the form of an hybrid output combining a written essay and an interactive performance.

Miguel Angel Castaneda Barahona is an activist and researcher who works with indigenous and peasant communities. He joined the program from Colombia. His research focuses on south-south dialogue, southern epistemologies, cultural studies, community work, communities of life, and re-indigenization. His thesis project is titled "'The Human Right to What?' Hunger, Food, and People: A Journey to the South." It took the form of a written academic thesis.

Anastasia Dzutstsati is a journalist, filmmaker, and human rights activist. Born in Moscow, Russia, they joined the program by way of New York City. Anastasia’s research interests focus on the nature of Russian autocracy, the state of independent journalism, LGBTQ+ rights, drug policy in Russia, and the war in Ukraine. Their thesis project is titled “'Gay Propaganda’: How Russian Independent Media Responds to Putinism’s Obsession with Sexuality”. It took the form of a written academic thesis.

Luka Gotsiridze is a researcher, documentarian, and digital content creator. He joined the program from Georgia, by way of Budapest, Hungary and Vienna, Austria. His research interests include religion and human rights, gender and sexuality, and storytelling and social cohesion. His thesis project is titled “ვითომ-ვითომ [Vitom-Vitom].” It took the form of an interactive performance.

Adam HajYahia is an independent writer and curator. Adam’s research interests revolve around the violence of racial-capitalism and colonialism and their intersection with the libidinal and the sexual. His thesis project is titled “Carnal Politics: Sex, Desire, and Anti-Colonial Deviance in Mandate Palestine.” It took the form of a hybrid output combining a written essay and a speculative archival exhibition that merges photography, text, and sound.

Isabella Indolfi is an independent curator living between New York City and Maranola (Italy), and working between Western Europe, Russia, Armenia, and the United States of America. Her curatorial research is focused on public art, site-specific, and community-based practices. Since 2009, she has been collaborating with artists, institutions, festivals, museums and universities. Currently she is an independent researcher for Opere Vive, art director at SEMINARIA Biennial Festival of Environmental Art, and co-curator for Cyland Media Art Lab. Her thesis project is titled “Leave the Community Alone: The Ethics of Curating Contemporary Art in Villages.” It took the form of a lecture performance.

http://www.isabellaindolfi.it/

K. is a social researcher, facilitator, and curator who works at the intersection of social sciences, activism, and arts. Her interests include participatory and community-based practices, post-socialism, mobility, citizenship, and urban studies. Her thesis project is titled “No One Has Stayed And No One Has Left.” It took the form of an audio-visual installation.

Iris Luo is a design researcher, storyteller, and educator. She joined the program from Shanghai, China. Iris’s research interests center on pluriversal design, cultural ecology, community development, and indigenous epistemology. Her thesis project is titled “Weaving the Threads: Labor Protection of Maya Weavers in Guatemala.” It took the form of a written academic thesis.

Carol Montealegre is an artist working in performance, installation, and video. She joined the program from Bogota, Colombia. Carol’s research interests include experimental film and performance art as mediums for human emancipation. She is the Artistic Director at Liminal Art Collective. Her thesis project is titled “Howls in The Mountains.” It took the form of a documentary film.

https://www.carolmontealegre.com/

Leil Zahra Mortada is a filmmaker, political organizer, curator, and researcher. Born and raised in South Lebanon, they joined the program by way of Berlin, Germany. Leil’s research interests include colonialism, nationalism, migration, transfeminism, and abolition. Their thesis project is titled "The Land, Not a Film By Youssef Chahine." It took the form of an interactive installation.

https://leilzahra.wordpress.com/

Mariia Pankova is a multimedia artist and documentary filmmaker. She joined the program from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Maria’s research interests center around regional variations of artistic identities and practices as well as art for social change. View her short documentary The Sounds of A City, which features an elderly music school teacher who has been playing for tips on the streets of Bishkek for twenty years. Her thesis project is titled “Cultural Politics and National Imaginaries in Soviet and Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan.” It took the form of a written academic thesis.

Arina Pshenichnaya is a researcher, art historian, and learning experience designer for adult online education. She joined the program most recently from Saint Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, Russia. Arina’s research focuses on artistic representation of repressive practices and their legacies in post-Soviet countries. Her thesis project is titled "Sacred War as the Russian National Idea." It took the form of a written academic thesis.

Aya Rebai is an architect, scenographer, and a cultural manager. She joined the program from Tunisia. Having worked on a variety of artistic and educational projects in Tunisia, Aya’s research and practice focuses on food politics and cooking as an artistic tool. Her thesis project is titled “Who Needs AI, We Need Potatoes.” It took the form of an interactive performance.

Jina Rishmawi is a peace activist and innovator. She joined the program from Palestine, Beit Sahour—the Shepherds Fields—in particular. Jina’s research interests include urban planning, nonviolent resistance, and peace-building. Her thesis project is titled “Behind the Tanks: The Politics and Aesthetics of Water Tanks in Palestine.” It took the form of a written academic thesis.

Nestor Rotsen is a fashion and multidisciplinary artist. He joined the program from Moscow, Russia. The main area of ​​interest for Nestor’s work is based on the social and political problems of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other countries that were previously part of the USSR. His thesis project is titled “Shroud[ed]: MH17.” It took the form of an installation and live performance.

Garrett Sager (a.k.a. Melissabeth) is a multidisciplinary artist with roots in theater and cabaret. He joined the program from the Boston area by way of the Hudson Valley. Garrett’s research interests include pop culture and identity, queer time, and the creation of new genders via performance. His thesis project is titled “Breaking the Seal.” It took the form of an interactive performance.

http://garrettsager.com/

Nabil Salih is a writer and photographer. He joined the program from Baghdad, Iraq by way of Washington DC. Nabil’s research interests include Iraqi politics and psychogeography. His work has appeared in Al Jazeera English, Jadaliyya, Middle East Eye and LeftEast and has been translated into French, Italian, and Spanish. His thesis project is titled "A Baghdad Sin: Peregrinations in a Ruptured Geography." It took the form of a written text accompanied by photographs by the author.

https://www.aljazeera.com/author/nabil-salih

Ciko Sidzumo has yet to adopt a discipline. She joined the program from Johannesburg, South Africa. Ciko’s research interests include period poverty, gender-based violence, and movements that work toward the eradication of both. Her project is titled “The Sanguinary Cradle: Cutha.” It took the form of an installation and live performance.

Mauro Tosarelli is a designer and researcher. He joined the program from Italy, by way of Dublin, Ireland. Mauro’s research interests center around detainees and former prisoners, as well as the ethics and politics of representing prison life. His thesis project is titled "Prison Rule 113.11 and Fugitive Tools." It took the form of an installation.
 

Hattie Wilder Karlstrom is a researcher and an activist. She joined the program from Amherst, Massachusetts by way of Annandale-on-Hudson. Hattie’s research interests center on borders and the people they affect. Hattie was a 2020 participant in the Border Pedagogy Working Group and the recipient of a Watson Fellowship. Her thesis project is titled “We’re with the Church”: Religion and Humanitarian Aid along the U.S.-Mexico Border.” It took the form of a written academic thesis, intertwining academic and creative nonfiction writing.

Immanuel Williams is an interdisciplinary artist working across the mediums of painting, printmaking, performance, sculpture, drawing, and installation. They joined the program from Albany, New York. Immanuel’s research interests include how themes of fragmentation, alteration, and mythification manifest in memories and familial stories retold. Their work was recently featured in Baby Get Closer at Co-prosperity Catskill. Their thesis project is titled “In Search of Adonis_XXX.” It took the form of an audio-visual installation.

Margarita Kuchma was a video and music artist. She joined the program from St. Petersburg, Russia. Margarita’s research interests included sound and video in advocacy, criminal justice reform, and youth empowerment. She is the songwriter and performer on the EP titled What Did You Say.