Do You Know That I’m With You

Weaving female narratives across our colonial border

Do You Know That I’m With You is a project that examines how political erasure has severed female history in the Uyghur region of China. Central to this research is Gülem, a mystical figure from Uyghur oral history who is associated with carpet weaving. Her origins are shrouded in uncertainty; she may have been erased, reappropriated and reimagined over time. In this research, she becomes a symbol of the silenced female maker – a lens I use to explore memory, displacement and resistance through the act of weaving. 

Using critical fabulation, myth-making, and Sufism as method of embodiment, my research proposes a feature-length docu-fiction project following my journey with Gülem, piecing together her fragmented presence across Transoxiana. It also includes a collective performance inspired by Tazkirah – an Uyghur storytelling tradition in which audiences inscribe themselves into the narrative to create an expansive, shared history.

By rewriting Gülem’s tales, I seek to resist erasure through storytelling and 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.

Jaar

2025