Episode 40 of State of Water featuring Ayed Arafah
We are honored to welcome Palestinian artist Ayed Arafah as our first State of Water guest in 2024. Ayed’s art has been featured around the world from Cairo to Oslo to exhibits across the United States. He became beloved by many folks within our Michigan community during his artist residency at Earthwork Farm several years ago. Ayed shares about his creative process and how he engages art as a powerful tool to raise awareness and to create a space of freedom and imagination in the midst of a life lived under occupation. Ayed also poignantly shares about his relationship with water and his own painful disconnection from the nearby seas – living in a reality where he is able to travel and enjoy the Great Lakes but is unable to access the neighboring and culturally significant Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea. We also get a personal update from Ayed on the horrors of the current situation in his homeland.
You can follow Ayed on Instagram.
Listen on Spotify, Soundcloud or Apple Podcasts.
State of Water is a program of the Michigan-based non-profit organization Title Track, and is powered by the Clean Water Campaign for Michigan. The podcast is made possible through a generous contribution from the Esperance Foundation.
EPISODE 40
Ayed Arafah interviewed by Seth Bernard
Produced, edited and mixed by Dan Rickabus and Chris Good
Narrators – Alex Smith, Ben Darcie, Dan Rickabus, Jenny Jones, Angela Gallegos, Rachel Marco-Havens
Graphic by Chris Good
Theme Music – Mike Savina, Seth Bernard & Dan Rickabus
Featured Music – “Homestretch” by Ecotone; “Authors (instrumental demo)” by Dan Rickabus; and “Cindy’s Waltz” by Seth Bernard
“The new season of the State of Water podcast begins with my interview with the great Ayed Arafah – prominent Palestinian artist, beloved friend and honorary Michigander. Ayed zoomed in from his neighborhood in Bethlehem and we spoke of art, culture, occupation, liberation, and, of course, water.” -Seth Bernard
Watch the full video of Episode 40 featuring Palestinian artist, Ayed Arafah, in conversation with State of Water host, Seth Bernard.
“Art can be a free space when the occupation is limiting your space then you can create your own space to go beyond all the borders.” -Ayed Arafah
In Episode 40 of State of Water, Palestinian artist Ayed Arafah shares about his poignant art project, “Sea Package.” As a Palestinian living with no access to the three seas geographically surrounding his homeland, he extended an invitation to friends across the world to send sea water to Palestine as an artistic expression of solidarity and resistance, creating his own access to the sea. This story and much more is featured in the first of two episodes with Ayed as our guest.
