Sonya Imin

Sonya Imin joined the project in 2022. She is a Uyghur American PhD student researcher and multi-disciplinary creative. Her research project at ULB explores how transformations in Uyghur exile are being negotiated through visual art and contemporary creative culture. Specifically, her project focuses on how diasporic identities are being articulated, how cultural shifts are being heightened by the realities of exile and genocide, and what narratives are being addressed through Uyghur creative arts. By looking at the dialogues around Uyghur art practices in diaspora, this project hopes to delineate specific shifts of perception and experience, areas of alignment and integration, strategies of resistance and (non)disclosure.

In addition to her academic work, Sonya is one of the co-editors of the Contemporary Uyghur Anthology, a multi-lingual collection of Uyghur art, poetry, and prose. She is also working on various forthcoming art and film projects spanning across the US, Europe, and Central Asia.