Tarwida

"Establish our own discourse. Theirs is rotten. We don't need it."

That's Samia Halaby — Palestinian abstract painter, scholar, activist, and at 89, one of the most vital voices in contemporary art — speaking directly to the next generation of Palestinian artists. In today’s episode, Tala sits down with Samia for a wide-ranging conversation that spans childhood in Jerusalem, decades of painting and teaching, and a career defined as much by what the art world tried to suppress as by what it eventually had to celebrate.

Born in 1936 during the Arab Revolt in Palestine, Samia was displaced with her family at age 11 during the 1948 Nakba. Those first 11 years — absorbed visually, intensely, synesthetically — became the foundation for a lifetime of looking. Samia describes how as a child she assigned colors and shapes to sounds and how her grandmother's apple-seed recipe came to symbolize everything lost in 1948.

The episode moves through her development as a painter, her rejection of "self-expression" as a capitalist myth, her conviction that abstraction is a tool for understanding reality rather than decorating it, and the way she was backed into becoming an artist at her mother's encouragement. She discusses her landmark work on the Kafr Qasem massacre — a book of documentary drawings now published in Arabic — and the very different choice she made with Massacre of the Innocents (2024), an abstract response to Gaza where documentation wasn't needed because the world was already watching.

Tala and Samia also discuss the censorship that defined recent years: Indiana University's cancellation of her retrospective in December 2023, Michigan State's removal of Six Golden Heroes in 2024, and what she learned about institutional cowardice and the differences between administrations, professors, and students. As she puts it: "They handed me proof everlasting that they're racist."

This episode is hosted and produced by Tala Elissa. Our associate producer is Zeena Shehadeh. Executive producer is Zina Jardaneh. Social media by Rajae Shehadeh. Research and copywriting by Dima Sharif. Branding by Sara Sukhun. Theme music includes excerpts from Clarissa Bitar, The Popular Art Centre - مركز الفن الشعبي & Rim Banna. Intro music by Terez Sliman. 

The episode was recorded on May 28th, 2026. Watch the episode on YouTube here.

Tarwida is a series of conversations that bring Palestinian arts, culture, and heritage to the forefront. We hear from artists, including writers, filmmakers, musicians, architects, and more, about their very own Palestine.

In a nutshell, if you want to know more about (Creative) Palestine, this is the place to be.

Follow us on socials @tarwidapodcast

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Relevant links & resources: 

Read more about Samia Halaby 

Follow Samia Halaby 

Read her book, Drawing the Kafr Qasem Massacre

Samia Halaby wins Munch Award for Artistic Freedom (2025) 

"We Refused" exhibition — Doha/Antwerp 

Read more about the Kafr Qasem massacre 

Learn more about Vera Tamari 

Learn more about Mona Saudi 

Learn more about Rima Nasir Tarazi 

Learn more about Sophie Halaby 

 

Episode Chapters: 

00:00:00 The apple seeds recipe her grandmother never got to share 

00:00:33 Introducing Samia Halaby 

00:02:00 Born in 1936, the year of the Arab Revolt 

00:03:15 Growing up in Palestine: 11 years of visual wonder 

00:05:30 Synesthesia: seeing color and shape in sound 

00:10:15 Her grandmother: role model, matriarch & the autobiography Apple Seeds 

00:12:30 Witnessing the Nakba: her father injured in Jaffa, January 1948 

00:14:45 How she became an artist — "I backed into it" 

00:17:00 Rejecting self-expression: art as craft, not therapy 

00:21:30 Nature, Islamic architecture & the evolution of her abstract work 

00:28:00 "Palestine is the Anvil" — the painting behind her 

00:30:00 Documenting the Kafr Qasem Massacre through drawing 

00:35:45 Gaza and Massacre of the Innocents (2024) 

00:38:15 Political posters: pro-Palestine propaganda and activism 

00:48:00 Pioneering computer art in the 1980s — and why AI is a hard no 

00:53:30 Academia, galleries & who really decides what art matters 

00:57:15 Indiana University censorship & Michigan State's removal of Six Golden Heroes 

01:01:15 Black is Beautiful (1969) and its Venice Biennale appearance in 2024 

01:05:00 Message to young Palestinian artists: "Be confident. Don't let them stop you."

"We spent all our lives walking into other people's museums. The time had come to walk into our own."

Today, we sit down with Faisal Saleh — Palestinian entrepreneur, photographer, and founder of the Palestine Museum US — to talk about what it took to build the first permanent Palestinian museum in the Western Hemisphere, and what it means to tell Palestine's story through art when so much of the world refuses to look.

Faisal walks through his early life in Al-Bireh and the entrepreneurial instinct that eventually led him to found his own institution in Woodbridge, Connecticut in 2018. We discuss the founding of the Edinburgh branch on Dundas Street, the vandalism the museum has weathered, and two consecutive years of rejection from the Venice Biennale before this year's acceptance.

The centerpiece of the episode is the story behind the exhibit "Gaza, No Words" — a collection of 100 embroidered Tatreez panels created in a single year by 60 Palestinian women in refugee camps in Lebanon and the West Bank, documenting the Gaza genocide stitch by stitch. Faisal describes the process behind the panels, the emotional weight of the imagery, and why the exhibit's title was left intentionally wordless. He closes with his plans for a future Gaza Genocide Museum and a forthcoming book. 

This episode is hosted by Afaf Shawwa Bibi. Our associate producers are Zeena Shehadeh and Ahmed Ashour. Lead producer is Tala Elissa. Executive producer is Zina Jardaneh. Social media by Rajae Shehadeh. Research and copywriting by Dima Sharif. Branding by Sara Sukhun. Theme music includes excerpts from Clarissa Bitar, The Popular Art Centre - مركز الفن الشعبي & Rim Banna. Intro music by Terez Sliman. 

The episode was recorded on May 28th, 2026. Watch the episode on YouTube here.

Tarwida is a series of conversations that bring Palestinian arts, culture, and heritage to the forefront. We hear from artists, including writers, filmmakers, musicians, architects, and more, about their very own Palestine.

In a nutshell, if you want to know more about (Creative) Palestine, this is the place to be.

Follow us on socials @tarwidapodcast

Relevant links & resources:

Learn more about The Palestine Museum US (Woodbridge, CT)

Learn more about the Palestine Museum Scotland (Edinburgh branch, 13a Dundas Street)

Dive deeper into the exhibit, "Gaza, No Words"

Read more about Faisal Saleh

Palestinian History Tapestry (merger partner, original 12-year tapestry project)

Scotsman coverage of the Edinburgh branch opening 

New Haven Arts Paper profile on the museum's growth from Woodbridge to Edinburgh

Donate/support the museum

In this episode of Tarwida, we sit down with Noora Baker, Head of Production at El-Funoun Palestinian Dance Troupe — one of the most celebrated Palestinian folk dance companies in the world, founded in 1979 with over 300 members and 16 major productions.

Noora takes us through her journey as a dancer since 1987, beginning at age seven during the First Intifada, to leading production on El-Funoun's latest work Ya Sahib Al-Tayr (2025). We explore the roots of Palestinian dabke, its evolution from village ritual to political symbol, and the tension between organic street dance and choreographed stage performance.

We also discuss how El-Funoun preserves Palestinian folklore, refusing politically conditioned funding, and the power of collective movement as a form of resistance. 

The episode is hosted and produced by Tala Elissa. Our associate producer Zeena Shehadeh. Lead producer is Tala Elissa. Executive producer is Zina Jardaneh. Social media by Rajae Shehadeh. Research and copywriting by Dima Sharif. Branding by Sara Sukhun. Theme music includes excerpts from Clarissa Bitar, The Popular Art Centre - مركز الفن الشعبي & Rim Banna. Intro music by Terez Sliman. 

 

The episode was recorded on January 9th, 2026. Watch the episode on YouTube here. 

 

Tarwida is a series of conversations that bring Palestinian arts, culture, and heritage to the forefront. We hear from artists, including writers, filmmakers, musicians, architects, and more, about their very own Palestine.

In a nutshell, if you want to know more about (Creative) Palestine, this is the place to be.

-- 

Follow us on socials @tarwidapodcast

Relevant links and resources:

Visit El-Funoun’s website and take a look at their online shop

Read Fi Ma'ma'ana al-Raqs (In the Mayhem of Dance) 

Follow El-Funoun (@elfunoun_troupe)

Learn more about Ghassan Kanafani

Learn more about the Popular Arts Center

Productions Mentioned

Ya Sahib At-Tair (2025)

Marj Bin Amer

Mash'al

Talat (Bara'em Al-Funoun)

In this episode of Tarwida, we share a remarkable conversation with Dr. Salman Abu Sitta — cartographer, historian, and founder of the Palestine Land Society — recorded on the Makdisi Street podcast.

Dr. Abu Sitta was born in Al-Maa'in near Khan Yunis and was expelled from his home as a 10-year-old boy during the Nakba of 1948. Over the following 75 years, he transformed personal loss into one of the most comprehensive documentary projects on Palestine ever undertaken: mapping 1,200 villages, cataloguing 50,000 place names, opening boxes sealed since 1877, and calculating — with meticulous precision — that 88% of the land Palestinian refugees were expelled from remains effectively vacant today.

In this conversation, Dr. Abu Sitta speaks about oral history and the colonial archive, the meaning of UN Resolution 194, the legal and practical feasibility of the right of return, the fight to preserve UNRWA, and why the question of Palestine is, at its core, a question of people being kept from going home.

He is 85 years old. He was there. And he is still counting.

Thank you to the Makdisi Street podcast for allowing us to share this episode with the Tarwida audience. This episode is hosted by the Makdisi brothers, Kareem, Sari, and Ossama and produced by Sina. Intro by Afaf Shawwa Bibi. The episode was adapted by Tarwida associate producer Zeena Shehadeh. Lead producer is Tala Elissa. Executive producer is Zina Jardaneh. Social media by Rajae Shehadeh. Research and copywriting by Dima Sharif. Branding by Sara Sukhun. Theme music includes excerpts from Clarissa Bitar, The Popular Art Centre - مركز الفن الشعبي & Rim Banna. Intro music by Terez Sliman. 

The episode was originally published on February 7th, 2024. 

Tarwida is a series of conversations that bring Palestinian arts, culture, and heritage to the forefront. We hear from artists, including writers, filmmakers, musicians, architects, and more, about their very own Palestine.

 

In a nutshell, if you want to know more about (Creative) Palestine, this is the place to be.

Follow us on socials @tarwidapodcast

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Relevant links and Resources: 

Watch the YouTube version on the Makdisi Street podcast’s channel

Subscribe to the Makdisi Street podcast and listen to their other episodes

Read Dr. Salman Abu Sitta’s article, "I could have been one of those who broke through the siege on October 7" 

Learn more about the Palestine Land Society

Read Dr. Salman Abu Sitta’s book, Mapping My Return

Learn more about AUB’s Palestinian Land Studies program

Take a look at Dr. Salman’s Atlases

‘The Atlas of Palestine (1917-1966)’

‘The Atlas of Palestine (1871-1877)’

‘The Return Journey Atlas’ 



 

Chapters: 

00:00:00 - Introduction 

00:01:00 Meet Dr. Salman Abu Sitta 

00:04:00 - A Family Rooted in Palestine 

00:07:00 - The Night of the Nakba 

00:09:00 - From Refugee to Scholar 

00:12:00 - Nationality: Uncertain 

00:15:00 - Excavating the Colonial Archive 

00:25:00 - They Carried the Memory in Their Head 

00:35:00 - The War on Archives 

00:39:00 - Rebuilding Palestine: The Architecture Competition 

00:43:00 - Renaming the Land 

00:47:00 - Resolution 194 and the Right of Return 

00:52:00 - 88% of Palestinian Village Sites Remain Vacant 

01:03:00 - UNRWA, Refugee Status, and the Fight Over 194 

01:23:00 - Liberation, Law, and Steadfastness

In this re-release of one of our favorite conversations from last year, multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker, and director of the Palestinian Museum in Birzeit, Amer Shomali, sits down for a conversation about art, identity, and resistance.

Amer shares his journey from a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria to studying architecture at Birzeit University, and the chance encounter that redirected his life toward his true passion in art and film. We explore three of his most iconic works: the viral Visit Palestine poster (2009), the lipstick portrait of Leila Khaled (The Icon, 2011), and his acclaimed animated documentary The Wanted 18 - the story of 18 cows that became a symbol of non-violent Palestinian resistance during the First Intifada.

We then turn to the Palestinian Museum, which Amer took over as director on October 8th, 2023, just one day after the genocide in Gaza began. He speaks about the challenges of running a museum when 80% of the national collection has been looted, and 80% of the audience lives in diaspora, and how the museum is redefining what a cultural institution can be. From the living exhibition This Is Not an Exhibition featuring Gazan artists, to the open-source traveling exhibition Gaza Remains: The Story, to the Digital Archives now holding over 400,000 documents — this episode explores the necessity of cultural resilience.

This conversation was recorded on December 1st, 2024.

This episode is hosted by Afaf Shawwa Bibi. Tarwida’s lead producer is Tala Elissa. Our executive producer is Zina Jardaneh. Our associate producers are Zeena Shehadeh and Ahmed Ashour. Social media by Leen Karadsheh. Research and copywriting by Dima Sharif. Branding by Sara Sukhun. Theme music includes excerpts from Clarissa Bitar, The Popular Art Centre - مركز الفن الشعبي & Rim Banna. Intro music by Terez Sliman. 

Tarwida Podcast is a series of conversations that bring Palestinian arts, culture and heritage to the forefront. We hear from artists including writers, filmmakers, musicians, architects, culinary practitioners and more about Creative Palestine. 

Relevant links and Resources: 

Connect with Amer Shomali on Instagram @amershomali

Visit Amer’s website

Learn more about The Palestinian Museum, The Icon- Leila Khaled, Visit Palestine poster

Watch The Wanted 18 trailer

The Palestinian Museum Digital Archive

The travelling exhibition: Gaza Remains the Story