“To love and be loved was more than could ever be expected, more than enough for a thousand ordinary lifetimes.”
-All The Colors Of The Dark
Artist: Ellie Kayu Ng
“Gentlemen” To Love And Be Loved
All articles filed in Asian Artists
The Love Of Beauty
“There is nothing wrong with the love Beauty. But beauty- unless she is wed to something more meaningful- is always superficial. It is not that your Julian chooses solely to concentrate on certain, exalted things; it is that he chooses to ignore others equally as important.”
-The Secret History
Artist: Ellie Kayu Ng “Chimera”
Central Aspects Of Human Life
“Science may provide the most useful way to organize empirical, reproducible data, but its power to do so is predicated on its inability to grasp the most central aspects of human life: hope, fear, love, hate, beauty, envy, honor, weakness, striving, suffering, virtue.”
-When Breath Becomes Air
Photographer: Park Bae
‘The Holy Temple’
“You’re Christian, Shu. Do you always believe in God?’
“Yeah, course. Got to.’
“Why?’
”Because,’ she says, ‘I can’t carry on living believing human beings are as good as it gets.’ She looks at me, “We’re the worst.”
-Maame
Artist: Viet Ha Tran
Love Starts Here By Rupi Kaur
maybe we’re all looking at it wrong
we think it’s something to search for out there
something meant to crash into us
on our way out of an elevator
or slip into our chair at a cafe somewhere
appear at the end of an aisle at the bookstore
looking the right amount of sexy and intellectual
but i think love starts here
everything else is just desire and projection
of all our wants needs and fantasies
but those externalities could never work out
if we didn’t turn inward and learn
how to love ourselves in order to love other people
-The Sun And Her Flowers
Photographer: Leslie Zhang
Shine Your Light Straight At Them
“There have been many occasions when Veronica’s been treated like a second-class citizen, so she understands the bad taste it puts in your mouth. She knows roasted nuts won’t erase the taste, but she hopes the gesture tells the woman that she’s not alone. Veronica has had her ass pinched and slapped too many times to count. The same goes for men telling her to smile, as if the arrangement of her features, or her mood, is any of their damn business. She’s had guys causally lean into her as they pass her in the aisle, so their hard penis presses against her hip. She’s regularly referred to as “sweetheart,” “darling,” and “baby.” She’s paid the same salary as Luis, even though she’s the chief flight attendant and he’s only been in the industry for six months. She’s been leered at by men floating in a sea of vodka tonics, and she’s had work—which she excels at—criticized by men who seem to be simply looking for a sport to pass the time.
Veronica knows how to handle these situations, of course. Not allowing men to diminish her, shining her light straight at them, is perhaps her greatest gift.”
-Dear Edward
Photographer: Leslie Zhang
Goodbye Twenty Twenty Two
Happy New Year
We are infinite souls, here to experience finite time. Duh, that’s why we celebrate it’s passing: New Year’s, birthday’s, solstices, savings, seasons changing…only able to experience it with these bodies. Look at how it leaves it marks us until our time is up. How you spend your time and who you spend it with is important and can bless or block you, remember that as you go into the new year. Karmic’s aren’t just lovers, but friends. What did you learn this year? How are you going to do next year differently? Photographer: Julian Song (@juliannn_song)
The World Has Teeth
“…the world is a weird and wonderful place, but that doesn’t mean it’s not without it’s teeth. And it will bite you when you least expect it.”
Artist: Lea Woo Illustration
Becoming A Shade Too Yellow
He had never felt he belonged here, even though he’d been born on American soil, even though he had never set foot anywhere else. His father had come to California under a false name, pretending to be the son of a neighbor who had emigrated there some years earlier. America was a melting pot, but Congress, terrified that the molten mixture was becoming a shade too yellow, had banned all immigrants from China. Only the children of those already in the States could enter. So James’s father had taken the name of his neighbor’s son, who had drowned in the river the year before, and come to join his “father” in San Francisco. It was the story of nearly every Chinese immigrant from the time of Chester A. Arthur to the end of the Second World War. While the Irish and the Germans and the Swedes crowded onto steamship decks, waving as the pale green torch of the Statue of Liberty came into view, the coolies had to find other means to reach the land where all men were created equal.
Artist: Hi Sue Yun
You’re Staring At The Sun
I am the conscience clear
In pain or ecstasy
And we’re all weaned my dear
Upon the same fatigue
You’re staring at the sun
You’re standing in the sea
Your mouth is open wide
You’re trying hard to breath
The water’s at your neck
There’s lightning in your teeth
Your body’s over me
Photographer: Andrew Kung