Reclaiming Yaffa: Mama Ganuush

Inverted Triangle Performance Accompanied by Brass Liberation Orchestra.

This short film is a powerful act of cultural reclamation and artistic futurism. It envisions a world where the historical Nakba never occurred, and Palestine's cultural heart, the city of Yaffa (Jaffa), remains unoccupied and thriving. In this space, queer Palestinian joy is not just possible but is a central, celebrated part of the cultural fabric.

The piece features Mama Ganuush, whose work is a potent expression of Palestinian queer futurism.

Here, they performance to a street brass band improvising in a clown monster or a warning from the protectors of the Palestinian and Lebanese people. The red and white are the common colors between Lebanese and Palestinian flag colors. The inverted triangle was band as it resembled militant resistance. Also the city hall area dragged unhoused people into prison cells and the thriving community was empty replaced with empty police cars.

I decided to defy the moment by wearing the inverted red triangle and having the focus mainly on it. White clown makeup with face tattoos resembling both Palestinian and Lebanese motif. A way to express the unity of Al Sham (decolonial term instead of the levant). The outfit is hand stitched by Andrew Medlin the Palestinian designer. The look is also a futuristic take of Palestinian renaissance replacing the victorian style with a triangle with Gaza white cotton.

This dance a way to reclaim the space for the people instead of the fascist state. Dancing infront of the United Nations fountain the day the UN asked for the first lebanese ceasefire in March of 2025.

The Artist: Mama Ganuush

Mama Ganuush (They) is a disabled, Muslim, trans Palestinian performance artist and activist whose work is deeply rooted in Palestinian liberation and intersectional resistance. Their art directly addresses and challenges colonialism, advocating for queer, disabled, and Palestinian rights.

Born to a father displaced from Yaffa during the Nakba and a mother displaced from Gaza during the Naksa, Mama Ganuush’s life and art are inseparable from their heritage. Their performance style draws from the elegance of Egyptian golden-era dance and Palestinian folk traditions, blending them with a vision of what Palestinian art could have become without colonization. This specific performance is a realization of a lifelong dream: to imagine a queer Palestinian dance unfolding inside the iconic Cinema Al-Hambra in Yaffa, a place their father knew before 1948.

The Song: “Ave Maria Performance Accompanied by the Islamic Call to Prayer”

An example of religious plurualism in Lebanon, this Youtube video features Lebanese diva Tania Kassis singing an inspired arrangement of the Christian Ave Maria accompanied by the Islamic call to prayer, or adhan, performed by Mhammad Shaar and Maen Zakaria.

ania Kassis is very interested in religious and cultural dialogue, and in this song celebrates both Lebanon’s cultural diversity and the religious connections between Christianity and Islam. This musical project was put together for the creation of a National Islamo-Christian Holiday in Lebanon (March 25, Annunciation Day).

This musical experience is a strong reminder that, while we tend to hear much more about the ideas and acts of religious extremists on all sides, there is a large and vocal core of people in the Middle East who have no problem living together in diverse communities. It is good to be reminded that for many in the Middle East, as in America, harmony is a result of many different voices coming together to celebrate their diversity.