Sofia Karim

Sofia Karim’s practice combines architecture, visual art, and activism. The incarceration of her uncle—photographer and activist Shahidul Alam—led to the development of her theories on an “Architecture of Disappearance,” an ongoing project in which she explores architecture as a language of struggle and resistance. Her work has been exhibited at Tate Modern, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the ICA, in London; the Rubin Museum, New York; Arthshila Ahmedebad, India); Museo Vivo del Muralismo, Mexico City; and as part of Documenta 15 (Steidl/ Kunsthaus Göttingen). She is the founder of Turbine Bagh, a joint artists’ movement against fascism and authoritarianism and platform for political art and activism. In November 2023 she set up Architects for Palestine / Tragic Turn, an initiative that raises funds for Gaza by offering architectural-design advice. She is now working on Free Tim Young / Tragic Turn, a collaborative art & architecture project with Tim Young, a wrongfully convicted prisoner on California’s death row. She is the 2025–2027 Visualizing Abolition artist-in-residence at UC Santa Cruz, creating work around women in California prisons. (updated 10/26)