September 24th 2019. Xinjiang province, China.

September 28th 2019. Turpan, Xinjiang province, China. Uighur burial ground in Turpan, encircled by new housing developments.

February 3rd 2019. Hotan, Xinjiang province. Uighur-minority locals wait in line for ID check and body searches before entering the local bazar.

September 24th 2019. Xinjiang province, China. Han Chinese and Uiguur tourists and locals enjoying the views from the heights of Hongshan park in the provincial capital Urumqi.

January 31st 2019. Kashgar, Xinjiang province. Uighur-minority men walking in a commercial street full of Chinese flags near the Idkah mosque.

September 28th 2019. Shanshan County, Xinjiang province, China. On the site of the Kumtag Desert Scenic Area, a desert-tourism park catering mostly to Han-Chinese tourists.

September 28th 2019. Shanshan County, Xinjiang province, China. Motorized miniature tanks attraction on the site of the Kumtag Desert Scenic Area, a desert-tourism park catering mostly to Han-Chinese tourists. In the background tourists climb one of the main dunes of the park.

September 28th 2019. Shanshan County, Xinjiang province, China. On the site of the Kumtag Desert Scenic Area, a desert-tourism park catering mostly to Han-Chinese tourists. Young Uighur women dressed up in folklore flashy dresses offer to pose for money to tourists.

September 28th 2019. Shanshan County, Xinjiang province, China. On the site of the Kumtag Desert Scenic Area, a desert-tourism park catering mostly to Han-Chinese tourists.

January 29th 2019. Kashgar, Xinjiang province. Uighur-minority bird keeper in the old town of Kashgar.

January 31st 2019. Kashgar, Xinjiang province. Uighur-minority residents - young and old - of a neighbourhood in the old town attend an outdoor Mandarin language class.

January 31st 2019. Kashgar, Xinjiang province. Night view over People’s Square and the massive Mao statue reigning over it.

February 1st 2019. Kashgar, Xinjiang province. One can nowadays often see walking the city streets in Xinjiang those ubiquitous groups of clumsy civilians doing self-defense training with the sticks that every shop or restaurant is now equipped with.

February 2nd 2019. Hotan, Xinjiang province. View over a local bazar on a Saturday afternoon.

February 2nd 2019. Hotan, Xinjiang province. Uighur-minority kids playing in the streets of what remains of the old town.

February 3rd 2019. Hotan, Xinjiang province. Uighur-minority restaurant staff and patrons with their children in a Uighur restaurant in the old twon of Hotan.

February 3rd 2019. Hotan, Xinjiang province. View over the White Jade river - also known by the native name of Yurungkash - from the road. The river gets its name from the white jade often found in its alluvial deposits. Hotan is famous for this white jade.

February 5th 2019. Hotan, Xinjiang province. Couple eating lunch in a local restaurant. In the reflection in the window one of the many additional police stations that have been installed at almost every street corner over the past three years.

September 26th 2019. Turpan, Xinjiang province, China. Han Chinese tourists visiting the site of the Emin Minaret and Mosque.

September 26th 2019. Turpan, Xinjiang province, China. Inside the Emin Mosque. The mosque has now become a tourist site.

September 26th 2019. Turpan, Xinjiang province, China. Burial ground on the site of the Emin Minaret and Mosque.

September 26th 2019. Turpan, Xinjiang province, China. A scarf rests on a tomb in the burial ground on the site of the Emin Minaret and Mosque.

September 26th 2019. Turpan, Xinjiang province, China. Local Uighur people enjoy the evening coolness at dusk in the streets of Turpan.

September 27th 2019. Xinjiang province, China. Near Turpan, on the main tourist site near the Gaochang mountains (Flaming mountains / Huoyanshan) catering mostly to Han Chinese tourists.

September 27th 2019. Xinjiang province, China. Near Turpan, on the main tourist site near the Gaochang mountains (Flaming mountains / Huoyanshan) catering mostly to Han Chinese tourists. Young Uighur women dressed up in folklore flashy dresses pose with Chinese tourists for money.

September 30th 2019. Xinjiang province, China. Young Uighur people on the train from the city of Korla to the city of Kuqa.

February 5th 2019. Hotan, Xinjiang province. Young Uighur-minority girl posing for photos in the ruins of an old neighborhood close to the White Jade river.

October 2nd 2019. Xinjiang province, China. A group of Uighur tourists on the site of the Kizil Gaha Beacon Tower (克孜尔尕哈烽燧 Kèzīěr gǎhā fēngsuì). Located 10km southeast of Kuqa, this was the site of a military facility built during the Han Dynasty.

The Night is Thick

2019. Xinjiang, China.

The Turkic minorities of the Chinese far-western province of Xinjiang have been engulfed for several years in a policy of persecution and reeducation in camps. Originating in the 2014 “Strike Hard Campaign Against Violent Terrorism” initiated by Xi Jinping, the camp system has significantly expanded since Chen Quanguo, a hardline party secretary, took charge of the region in 2016. In 2019, It is estimated that up to 1,5 million Uighurs and Chinese citizens belonging to other Muslim minorities are currently imprisoned with no trial in so-called “vocational training centers”. Up to five hundred of these sinicization camps have opened in the province in order to turn inmates into loyal supporters of Xi Jinping and party policies and to make them renounce their Muslim faith. As this grim domestic cultural cleansing is happening in the face of international and Muslim political apathy, the region has also seen an unprecedented boom in tourism. By 2020, Xinjiang is expected to hit a total of 300 million visits by tourists and earn US$87 billion from tourism, according to the region’s tourism bureau. Considering the extent of the current repression towards Muslim minorities in the region, these numbers are highly disturbing. “The Night Is Thick” project is an attempt at representing the twofold dystopia that Xinjiang has become, where two parallel universes coexist: the weakened pulse of life within the Uighur community and the monetized version of an ethnic Xinjiang, a theme park of majestic sand dunes, camels and pretty local girls in flashy dresses. The second totally oblivious to the first. This work, produced over two separate trips to the region in 2019, was marked by close surveillance by local authorities. How to document a situation when you do not have access to the core of the problem? When you should not talk to the people engulfed in it by fear of putting them in danger? When you are trying to show what is or has already disappeared?

This project - enriched by several texts - will be published as a photobook by the Editions André Frères in October 2021

This monograph is dedicated to photographer Patrick Wack's four years of work in the Uyghur region (aka Xinjiang)

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The Night is Thick

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