ilikum (pronounced ee-lay-kum) features music, visual art, film, drama, dance, electronic media, and other culture generated in the Middle East or globally by Middle East diaspora. This collection demonstrates the importance culture plays in positive societal and political change versus how little governments achieve through policies that rarely move societies progressively or benefit the populations they govern.
Cultural creators and contributors almost always draw a line in the sand, daring us to cross it and embrace the challenge of introspection and the change it propels. Cultural and artistic statements, no matter what medias, often create discussion, controversy, sometimes conflict, and sometimes violent retribution from power and authority for using creative culture as a mode to enact change.
This site is written by and curated by Tom Nimen, a Brooklyn, New York graphic designer, painter, author, and Moth Storyteller.