Broadly, my scholarship is situated at the intersection of aesthetics and international politics. My doctoral research explores these themes alongside notions of resistance, diaspora, and exile, focusing on the work and experiences of dissident artists and cultural producers displaced from Myanmar. I’m interested in how notions of ‘resistance’ are mediated, curated, and programmed through visual culture in the diaspora. I explore the aesthetic interventions themselves, my interlocutors’ experiences of ‘exile’ and displacement, the political economy of the NGO-art world nexus, and the interrelations between these aspects. Theoretically, I predominantly draw from post/anticolonial thought, diaspora studies, and cultural studies. I draw on interviews, visual methods, ethnographic approaches, and other interpretive methods in my research. My doctoral research also has a curatorial component, for which I curated 'Not another protest exhibition' at the LSE's Atrium Gallery in February 2024.

Currently, I’m a PhD Candidate in the LSE’s Department of International Relations and supported by the AHRC’s London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP). I’m also a visiting scholar in the Department of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University from 2024 - 2025. I hold an MSc in Development Studies from SOAS, University of London and a BA in Political Science from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Academic publications

“Towards an anticolonial aesthetic politics: surrealist praxis & epistemic refusal.” Review International Studies. (2025): 1 -22. Winner of BISA’s Colonial, Postcolonial and Decolonial 2024 ECR Runner-up prize.

Other publications (including RA & previous work)

"Reflecting on ‘Impact’ in Artist–Academic Collaborations in Times of Conflict." Journal of Humanitarian Affairs 4, no. 2 (2022): 32-39. Solo-authored practice-based article.

"Describing adolescents with disabilities’ experiences of COVID-19 and other humanitarian emergencies in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review." Global Health Action 15, no. 1 (2022): 2107350. Co-authored article.

“Graphic Lives, Visual Stories: Reflections on Practice, Participation, and the Potentials of Creative Engagement.” a/b: Auto/Biography Studies 35, no. 2 (2020): 311-329. Co-authored practice-based article.

Blogs

LSE blog (2024): Weaving Art and Resistance in Myanmar

Broken Frontier Blog (2021): Inside Look: I Am a Leader of My House – PositiveNegatives’ New Webcomic with The New Humanitarian and Fahmida Azim Tells the Stories of Two Rohingya Women in Their Fight for Equality

BMJ Blog (2021): Beyond health: Connecting art, COVID-19 and the Sustainable Development Goals in the rural plains of Nepal (Co-author)

SOAS Blog (2018): Engaged learning in Myanmar’s borderlands