Do You Know That I’m With You (WIP)

بىلەمسەن مەن سەن بىلەن بىلل

2024 - Ongoing

Single channel, feature length film work in progress, Docu-fiction, Uyghur/Uzbek, Netherlands

Darya evoked Gülem, a forgotten goddess of carpet weaving from the Uyghur region. They traveled across Central Asia to piece together Gülem’s fragmented beings. Through poetic voices, shared rituals, and ancestral echoes, they explore themes of feminism, oppression, and colonial erasure.

A short film has been made as an outcome of the research. Now this project is looking for creative partners, dutch co-producer, and fundings to continue expand on the narritive.

Lady Of Heaven

2025

Single channel, 09’40 mins, experimental documentary, Uyghur/English, Netherlands
This is a journey through the skies on a flying carpet with my grandmother who survived from a concentration camp in Xinjiang, China.

As we soar, the carpet transforms into a tapestry of Sumerian myths, dreams, and fragmented memories, intertwining the past with the present of maternal history in Turkestan.

345 Nights
كىچىلەر

Ongoing

Installation, 60 year-old handmade textiles from Uzbekistan, two sounds in loop, online recordings

This is an evolving online exhibition, dedicated to the silenced female makers of the Uyghur region.
The collection of recordings continues to grow, and an installation featuring them is presented
during the Artistic Research Week at the Netherlands Film Academy, Master of Film, 2025.

Send me home, aspen tress
تيرەك بوستان

2025

Installation, dual projection video, 4mins, loop

We didn’t speak english at English Garden (WIP)

2024 - ongoing

Spoken word performance, with a video installation, 15 mins
What does it mean to speak in an imprisoned language?
Darya reunites with her cousin after a decade apart, during a time when her cousin is grappling with bipolar disorder. Their struggle is intertwined with the fear and anxiety stemming from the surveillance and pressures faced by Uyghurs in diaspora. As they confront the fear and love tied to speaking their mother tongue in a foreign land, they seek solace and healing in their shared experiences.