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.

International Arrivals speaks with artist and NYU professor, Linda Sormin (Thailand, Indonesia, China, Canada, USA) (https://www.lindasormin.com/) who discusses her journey from Bangkok to New York, her diasporic heritage, and her work exploring themes of upheaval, migration, and identity.

She reflects on her family's history, along with the erasure of Batak language and knowledge. Sormin's art, which includes large-scale, site-responsive installations, incorporates found objects and traditional ceramic techniques as well as video and VR.

Sormin also explores the physicality of clay as a decolonizing practice and the interplay between language, artistic production, and personal narrative. Her upcoming solo show at the Gardner Museum in 2025 will further explore these themes.

International Arrivals speaks with artist Hangama Amiri (Afghanistan/Canada) (http://www.hangamaamiri.com/) about her work that incorporates painting and textiles to memorialize her diasporic experience and elevate women's spaces, voices, and experiences. Her journey has had many stops from Peshawar to Kabul, Halifax to New Haven. Amiri discusses glittery fabrics, life in the bazaar, and women's roles in Afghan culture.