Weaving female narratives across our colonial borders
Is an artistic research project that examines how political erasure has severed female history in the Uyghur region of China. Central to this research is Gülem, a mystical female figure from Uyghur oral history, associated with carpet weaving. Her origins are shrouded in uncertainty—she may have been erased, reappropriated, or reimagined over time. In this research, she becomes a symbol of silenced female makers, a lens to explore memory, poetry, and resistance through the act of weaving.
Using critical fabulation, myth-making, and Sufism as an embodiment method, this research proposes a feature-length docu-fiction project following the artist’s journey with Gülem, piecing together Gülem’s fragmented presence across Transoxiana. The research also envisions a collective performance inspired by Tazkirah, a Uyghur storytelling tradition in which audiences inscribe themselves into the narrative, expanding a shared history.
By rewriting Gülem's tales, the artist seeks to resist disappearance through storytelling. To envision a future where Uyghur cultural memory is not only reclaimed but woven into new forms of resistance, making space for erased histories to be seen, heard, and shared.
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