ABOUT

 

Hello I am Didi, Dilara Asardag, a feminist PhD Candidate, researcher writer, artist and activist. Having an inquisitive, dynamic, globally-oriented, cosmopolitan and creative personality, I was brought up with a critical attitude sensitive to world problems, global inequalities and human rights violations since at an early age. I have always been passionate about arts, culture, philosophy and fashion. Aligned with my interests, I completed my Bachelor's degree in Media and Communications at Goldsmiths College, University of London and my Master's degree in Media and Global Communication at the University of Helsinki. Currently, I am a doctoral researcher in the program of Communication, Media and Performing Arts at the Tampere University in Finland.

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I am interested in questions surrounding the body, affect, subjectivity, performativity, and embodiment pertaining to internet cultures and offline everyday life, and often times the fluidity of both. Comprehending how bodies, worlds and discourses come into being and are constructed through the media where power is enacted, secured and resisted is central to my research interests. My work is transdisciplinary, cutting across different fields and realms of thought and standing at the intersection of gender studies, media studies, cultural studies and anthropology. My work brings together feminist theory, media theory, social theory and queer theory. I use experimental, creative ethnographic methods in my doctoral research. Currently my doctoral research project is related to gender-based violence and online and offline advocacy/ activist campaigns by the feminist and LGBTIQ rights organizations in Turkey.

 

​I see my academic work as being intertwined with creative artistic practice. I have a strong interest in visual culture; primarily photography, performing arts and cinema. Since early on, I was engaged with different kinds of photography; for example street photography and portrait photography. Moreover, my experimental photography project at Goldsmiths Degree Show was telling the stories of Syrian Refugees by problematizing photojournalistic styles of representation where the themes include identity blurriness, dreams, hopes, borders, isolation, grief, resentment. Currently, I would like to explore body, affect, subjectivity, violence, gender, sexuality, race and intimacy through portraiture, self-portraiture and contemporary performance and dance. Regarding dancing, my passion lies in heels dance, contemporary dance, pole dance, ballet, aerial hoop as well as jazz dance, musical theatre&burlesque.

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