Sheyam Ghieth (she/they) is a queer Egyptian art liberator, known for her graphics and design work on the comedy-drama television series Ramy, FX’s The Americans, Netflix’s Orange Is The New Black; and for producing and co-directing the award-winning web series BROTHERS about a group of transmasc friends.
Sheyam was born in Cairo, and grew up attending International, American and British schools in various regions of occupation and colonization. With her family, she lived in Egypt, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Italy and Louisiana, where she developed a lifelong obsession with country music. From 2001 to 2007, Sheyam worked as a reporter for the Associated Press, Dow Jones and Bloomberg News in Rome, Italy and around Europe, before moving back to NYC and reconnecting to herself as a creative. For the past 15 years, Sheyam has created props, set dressing and signage, custom art and large-scale graphics for film and television, as well as logo, branding and identity design for several independent enterprises geared toward collective liberation.
They now live on Multnomah, Clackamas, Cowlitz land (so-called Portland, OR) where they practice collective care by wearing a respirator in public and filtering air as much as possible. Most recently, Sheyam has been hosting liberation-movement art builds and co-creating zines about Covid, Palestine, and their intersections.
Sheyam believes we are all creatives, here to live out our fullest expression. And that this dunya is in dire need of connection – to ourselves and others.
Sheyam founded and co-runs Creators for Gaza, a mutual-aid network connecting artists and amplifiers with 50+ Palestinian families surviving the genocide. Join us to amplify our list of families, or sign up to create art for a family or boost their campaign.
Sheyam + Media
Sheyam on The Queer Arabs “Sheyam is a co-founder of Creators for Gaza, a SWANA-led mutual-aid network connecting artists and amplifiers with Palestinian families facing genocide. Check it out to donate or get involved as an artist!
They also discuss their work drawing connections between disease and colonialism in genocidal states, building COVID-19 and Palestine solidarity, especially in the face of mask bans meant to attack pro-Palestine protesters. This work includes their Zine “mask up we need you” (in collaboration with @rimo_skyo).
We also talk about how we’re showing up with our communities lately, and Sheyam highlights @swanarosepdx community center as a home for the SWANA diaspora. We talk about the importance of community care *and* alone time for introverts, and the importance of taking time for trust-building in identity-based spaces.”
“Mask Up! We Need You: Palestinian Solidarity, Covid-19, and the Struggle for Liberation by Rimona Eskayo and Sheyam Ghieth is “a primer for those who consider themselves co-strugglers for Palestinian liberation, yet may not understand the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic as both a genocide in itself and a tool of genocide that perpetuates all others.” Frann Michel talks with the creators of the zine about the cumulative dangers and disparate impacts of the continuing pandemic, the interconnections of capitalism and disease, and their work to share information and resources. ”
“I exist now in the world as a queer Arab abolitionist. I believe that true liberation for everybody, starting from Palestine, can happen within our lifetime. And I think it all starts with every single one of us. So, what it feels like to live my existence is to try to remind myself everyday through my art, through how I walk through the world, that the reason we’re here and the purpose that we all have is just true and free expression.”
