2023-

I trained an AI on images of traditional Suzani embroidery (an art form linked with invisible feminine labour), attempting to visually capture the mental traps I had unconsciously set up for myself on the journey of relearning and redefining my blurred Central Asian identity. These outcomes are a work in progress, and a continuous conversation I keep having with a digital tool which - for now - still remains a reflection of colonial structures, aesthetics and imaginations.

Within these collaborations with AI, I am still grappling with the challenge of expressing my personal experiences in a manner that is authentic to my sense of self. There are instances when I feel like an amorphous being in a perpetual state of flux, with no definitive shape or form. Concurrently, I question whether my portrayal of these experiences only serves to perpetuate and idealise visual aesthetics that have been co-opted and commercialised for the outer world to consume.