Yamen Mekdad is a London and Damascus based Syrian artist, researcher, and community organizer whose practice explores the intersection of sound, geography, and the human condition. He has co-founded several collectives—including Dandana, Sawt of the Earth, Makkam, and Sadaa Sound Syndicate—and serves as Creative Director of the Syrian Cassette Archives and Rock Paper Scissors, as well as co-founder and audio curator of the Syrian Arts and Culture Festival (SACF). His work, rooted in sonic research and the activation of endangered archives, has been featured on platforms such as SOAS, NTS, and Radio AlHara and at international festivals and institutions. He also directed Sawt Syria with Boiler Room, and most recently premiered his essay-film Shapeshifting at Sheffield DocFest, which reflects on Syria’s underground music scene and diaspora in the years leading up to the fall of the Assad regime.

Juline Hadaya is a London-based artist and filmmaker, of Syrian origin, whose interdisciplinary practice spans sound, image, and sculpture. Her work critically engages with memory regimes within both digital and non-digital geographies of violence. Drawing from archival research, digital media, and lived experience, Hadaya’s practice navigates the interplay between intimate subjectivities and collective imaginaries. Her approach foregrounds narrative as both method and form, weaving conceptual precision with poetic sensibility. She is currently completing her master’s in Visual Anthropology at Goldsmiths University in London.