3EIB: Contextualising Spaces for Liberation

This panel, hosted by Dania Arafeh in conversation with Mahmoud Hassouneh, Bint Mbareh, Nour and Akil Scafe-Smith, contextualises the discussion within decolonial, feminist and community-driven frameworks. Dania Arafeh is a Palestinian British curator and founder of 3EIB, a community-led platform making space for creatives from the SWANA region. Central to her practice is the intention to nurture communities that exist between the balance of honouring cultural heritage and authentic self expression, as well as platforming Palestinian culture in surprising ways. Mahmoud Hassouneh is the founder and creative director of MQAAAR, a Palestinian community-centred brand that preserves the sense of collective support and togetherness passed down from elders in Palestinian and Arab communities. Through conceptual storytelling fashion collections, curated events and panel discussions, Hassouneh fosters community expression and connection, and collaboration between individuals. Bint Mbareh is a sound researcher with a focus on water in Palestine. Her interest in the parallel between water and sound waves opens questions of border dissolutions (between bodies, between states, between tenses), and the possibility of being enveloped by the voice, similarly to being enveloped by water. She challenges settler colonial epistemology by emphasising Palestinian ways of knowing, from rain-summoning music to shrine pilgrimage as an instigator to political revolution. Nour is an artist and advocate. A DJ and producer, she offers coaching and workshops to empower women and gender minorities with skills and opportunities. She is dedicated to preserving the voices and stories of Palestinian elders who lived through the Nakba. For her project ‘Refugee Chronicles’, she travels to Palestinian refugee camps across the MENA region to record video testimonials of Nakba survivors. Akil Scafe-Smith is one sixth of RESOLVE, an interdisciplinary design collective that aims to address multi-scalar social challenges by combining architecture, art, technology and engineering. RESOLVE have delivered numerous projects, workshops, and talks, in London, the UK, and across Europe, as well as working with a variety of initiatives to introduce young people from under-represented backgrounds to concepts in interdisciplinary design. This conversation is presented by 3EIB, as they work towards building an inclusive and sustainable community space in London.