International Arrivals

International Arrivals speaks with Nicholas Galanin (Yéil Ya-Tseen) (https://www.peterblumgallery.com/artists/nicholas-galanin) who is a multi-disciplinary artist and musician of the Sitka Tribe of Alaska and of Tlingit and Unangax̂ descent. His work centers upon colonial encounters and historical amnesia, and the complexities of contemporary Indigenous culture and representation. Galanin speaks to IA about his work, the lack of Indigenous perspectives, the violence of discovery narratives, the appropriation of peoples and objects, and the movement between erasure and visibility for Indigenous communities.

International Arrivals speaks with Uta Bekaia (Georgia/USA) (https://utabekaia.com/) about his performances and costumes, rituals and folklore, language, and the current political climate in Tbilisi. After living in New York for 20 years he returned to Georgia where he is committed to building community, and developing the art scene for queer youth despite the anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric of the current government.

International Arrivals speaks with AYDO, the interdisciplinary artist duo of Nicholas Oh and Ayoung Yu (Korea/USA) (http://www.aydostudio.com), about their exploration of Korean folklore and pre-colonial spiritual practices through ceramics, performance, and video. They reflect on their diasporic experiences, cultural identity, Oh's connection to breakdancing, and the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides North and South Korea. The DMZ features prominently in their project Border Ecologies, created for Open Call: Portals at The Shed in New York City in 2025, which includes life-size ceramic zodiac figures and video.

International Arrivals speaks with transdisciplinary artist Gita Hashemi (Iran/Canada) (gitaha.net) about her project Grounding: States of Gender, which explores identity, language, and personal narrative. This embodied performative writing project transcribes stories of her friend Zahra through calligraphic writing in black and red painted onto giant scrolls. Unlike Hashemi, who left Iran after the 1979 revolution, Zahra remained. Hashemi discusses womanhood, activism, the significance of using Farsi in the artwork, the challenges of addressing sensitive topics, and the idea of transmission. Reflecting on the current protests in Iran, and the continued significance of this project, Hashemi emphasises the need for international support and solidarity for Iranian freedom and self-determination.

* This podcast was recorded early in 2026, prior to the US and Israel launching airstrikes in Iran. Photo by Justin Wonnacott

International Arrivals speaks with interdisciplinary artist Miguel Alejandro Castillo (Venezuela/USA) (https://www.instagram.com/love.entirely) about his journey to the US to study dance and his work as a choreographer, dancer, and director. Castillo addresses the impact of immigration on his identity, his body, and the challenges of navigating bureaucratic language. He discusses loud and clear, a performance piece he created with Daniel de Barrito and visual artist Lexi Hota which explores the Venezuelan diaspora through folkloric elements and masks. He reflects on how his performances serve as an archive for diasporic experiences and his own memories.

Castillo was recently awarded the winner of The Juilliard School's Marcus Directing Fellowship for 2025-26.

International Arrivals speaks with Filipino American artist duo Abang-guard, Maureen Catbagan and Jevijoe Vitug (Phillipines/USA) (https://maureencatbagan.com/) about their current exhibition, Makibaka, at the Queens Museum in which they use the 1964-65 New York World's Fair's Philippines and New York State Pavilions as an entrance for talking about the importance of 1965 for Filipino American labor history. They emphasize the importance of community archives and the interplay between institutional critique and personal narratives, aiming to reclaim and reframe Filipino American history. Their work reconsiders the importance of monuments, Little Manila(s), The Delano grape strike, and pays homage to the bridge generation who came to find their American dream.

The title of their exhibition, Makibaka, is a rallying cry: fight to live, live to fight, dare to struggle, dare to win. It's a slogan that resistance and protest movements used against the Marcos dictatorship and martial law during the 70s and 80s and has become the regular rallying cry of Filipino activists fighting against oppressive systems, both in the Philippines and abroad.

International Arrivals speaks with Rah Eleh (Iran/Canada)(https://www.rah-eleh.com/), about her multi-channel and immersive video work that critiques gender, nationhood, and ethnic identity. Rah discusses her use of parody, game shows, dance, and her characters—Orion, Fatima, and Coco—who explore themes of whiteness, nationalism, and queer identity.

International Arrivals speaks with artist Lau Wai (Hong Kong/USA) (https://www.w-a-i-studio.com/) who discusses their video work, the growth of AI, and the relationship between virtual reality and our physical world. Their work explores identity formation through personal and historic archives, cinematic imagery, and emerging technologies.

The recent exhibition entitled "Facial Recognition" at Jane Lombard Gallery in New York, featured Lau Wai's "Decrypted Sentient 02," a video work with two digitally generated entities discussing their existence and questioning which one of them is the original. Through this work, and others, Wai blurs the boundaries of virtual and physical realities while addressing the impact of AI and digital representation.

A special episode of the International Arrivals Podcast recorded live at Abrons Arts Center. International Arrivals brings together cultural workers to discuss the current political atmosphere and its threat to artists, arts organizations, and artistic freedom: Why is it important right now that arts organizations are focusing on social issues like global conflict, migration, and identity?

Participants include: International Arrivals (Anna Khimasia and Emily Lutzker); The Immigrant Artist Biennial (Katya Grokhovsky); IMPULSE Magazine (Jenny Wang); Immigrant Artist Program, New York Foundation for the Arts (Ya Yun Teng); and Artist Erika Harrsch.

International Arrivals speaks with multi-disciplinary artist Lara Baladi (Egypt/Lebanon) (tahrirarchives.com). Baladi discusses Tahrir Cinema" an influential public pop-up cinema that served as a platform where filmmakers, artists, activists and civilians could share their stories during the 2011 Egyptian uprisings, aka Arab Spring. She talks about the current atmosphere in Egypt and censorship in the arts.

Emphasizing the voices of the people, Vox Populi, Tahrir Archives her continuing project, includes a series of artworks and publications. The culmination of which is Anatomy of Revolution, an ABC and Archive of Revolting. This project (a website and series of installations), offers a visual lexicon of resistance and global protests and speaks to the importance of archiving as resistance itself. This discussion touches on the impact of social media, and artistic strategies employed during times of upheaval.

Baladi's project Anatomy of Revolution, which aims to reinterpret historical narratives through a collaborative platform, involves workshops in the context of art spaces, conferences, and universities, focusing on the importance of visual connections in making complex information accessible to facilitate research, and critical thinking.