Gulniyal originally comes from Uyghur nationality, which is one of minority groupin Xinjiang Province, China. She is currently studying media studies at a liberal arts college in Los Angeles,California.
She contacted me several weeks ago since she got to know my project through the internet and she told me she wanted to participate in the project. To be honest, I have a lot of curiosity on her not only because she comes from minority but also she is fond of creativity so much. Actually I had a dream about her last night as I planned to interview her today. However, in my dream, she stood me up as she told me that she was going back to Beijing for work, and then she sent me a succulent plant as a farewell gift. So I told her about this dream in the beginning of the interview this morning.Unbelievably, she told me she received an intern offer in Beijing and she did have a succulent plant in her house. Will my dream be a de ja vu for her in the future? We wil see.
Generally speaking, she loves music and independent creativity no matter photography or video making or independent fashion. Sometimes she was a dj for campus radio and she loves interviewing some local creators in Los Angeles. But now she could not do anything about that due to the quarantine. But she began to learn guitar and she played a bit keyboard for me during the interview. It was cute and nice. She really like to express herself by art.
There were some hard time for her in quarantine as she live by her own in the apartment. The inevitable loneliness made her cry so loud alone everytime. It was a regular release for her routine. Staying alone just like a double-edged sword. It brought her pain but made her reflect on her own in the meantime. And now she learn to abreact by creating, like recording and making her own radio channel on the internet. She also showed me the hat she made by hand with old jeans.
Besides, now it is clear she knows what she wants to do about her future during this quarantine while feeling ambitious about it.
2020.09.19
