Sharon Sliwinski is an interdisciplinary scholar whose work is anchored in visual studies, political theory, and psychosocial studies. She has written extensively about photography and human rights, and often works directly with artists, activists, and institutions involved in human rights struggle to understand how image technologies shape our practices of witnessing, political judgment, and collective memory.

In 2017, Sliwinski established the Museum of Dreams, a research hub and public memory studio dedicated to exploring the social and political significance of dream life. Together with a wide range of partners, the Museum collaboratively produces exhibitions, essays, research reports, and a podcast series. The Museum also gathers original dream material through a community partnership project called Dreamers of the 21^st Century. This project treats dreams as an innovative mode of testimony that speaks volumes about the complex worlds we inhabit. These visions carry important transpersonal information, revealing the ways social, historical, and environmental forces concentrate on an individual’s experience of life.     

Sliwinski's most recent book is An Alphabet for Dreamers: How to See the World with Eyes Closed (MIT Press, October 2025). Borrowing from the traditional alphabet book genre, and lavishly illustrated by Melinda Josie, the book demonstrates how dreams serve as one of our most powerful ways to understand—and radically change—our world. Each of the short chapters engages a dream from the historical record—from both the recent and distant past—to show how these experiences help us make sense of our most profound social conflicts and transform our shared reality. 

Sliwinski's previous books include Dreaming in Dark Times (2017); with Shawn Michelle Smith, the edited volume, Photography and the Optical Unconscious (2017); Mandela's Dark Years (2015); and the award-winning, Human Rights in Camera (2011). She is currently working on The Danzig Album, a book about photography and transgenerational memory.

In 2017, Sliwinski was elected to the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada. She has held fellowships at Saarland University and Birkbeck, University of London.