Sohaila Baluch
PhD Work
PhD work
Thinking Difference: a reimagining of British South Asian identity
My research project demands a space that recognises difference as a raw and dynamic force that can upset us/them divisions and disrupt the narratives that tell bodies they do not belong. This practice led research project is an investigation into how thinking with difference as actuated through Audre Lorde’s use of the term can be used to reimagine British South Asian identity.  Through a feminist activist practice, I assert my differences as a British South Asian to resist the violent productions of difference that are used to keep marginalized bodies immobilized, disregarded and devalued. I combine materials with activist actions to incite discomfort, to force the audience to think of the bodies that experience racism, injustice and rejection because they are different.Â
Info
Info
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PhD
School
School of Arts & Humanities
Programme
Arts & Humanities Research, 2020–
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Contact
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Sohaila's work draws from feminist strategies to unite craft traditions with fine art practice.  Her work uses materials and processes that are linked to the female experience, to women's labour and the domestic sphere to explore cultural anxieties surrounding issues of identity and belonging within Diaspora communities.Â
Since her MA Sohaila has worked as an arts educator and lecturer. She works within the creative industry specialising in image licensing and copyright permissions, intellectual property rights and out of copyright works. Her current practice and research focuses on disrupting narratives that tell racialised bodies they do not belong through a feminist activist practice that uses difference as a mode of resistance.Â
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Degrees
- MA Fine Art Print, Royal College of Art, 2003; BA (Hons) Fine Art, Surrey Institute of Art and Design, 2000