Mati Shemoelof

Mati Shemoelof is an Arab-Jew poet, author and editor. His writing is diverse and includes six poetry books, plays, articles and one collection of stories. His works have won significant recognition and prizes. German edition of his poems will be published by the Berlin publisher AphorismA publishers in 2019. “Das künftige Ufer” - A Hörspiel he wrote was aired in the WDR radio station (2018). Now is working on a new literary project “Anu אנו نحن: Jews and Arabs writing in Berlin”.

Photographer: Gal Kadan, 2018

How to Explain Hare Hunting to a Dead German Artist

Joseph Sassoon Semah, a Baghdad-born artist who now lives and works in Amsterdam, is about to embark on an extensive multi-site project, in Amsterdam, Jerusalem, and Baghdad. Berlin-based poet and author Mati Shemoelof talks with him about his years living as an artist in Israel versus being a Babylonian Jew and an artist in Europe. They discuss Judaism, diaspora, exclusion, and acts of concealment and building.