By Abhi Chinniah Light skin, dark skin. The song of my childhood. Skin lightening soaps, creams, scrubs that would bleach and scrape my skin. You name it, I was given it. Scraping the dark off was a common conception of beauty when I was growing up. Fair was seen to be more beautiful, superior and in many instances it still is. It took a long … Continue reading My Story
By Ivanova Anjani from Unwritten Stories, 2019. It was the early 70’s in Indonesia. In a military man’s humble home in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, a little girl had just made a wallet out of fabric scraps from her mother’s sewing projects. A large grin formed as she held her first ever labour of love, which she constructed by carefully following the instructions found in Femina … Continue reading A Seamstress and a Green Dress
By Aiwa Pooamorn from Have You Ever Been With An Asian Woman Before?, 2019. Full title: Beware of the old white grandpa at point chev beach, he walks there every afternoon. If you go to point chev beach the one with the glory hole toilet an old white grandpa in a faded polo t-shirt grey slacks and leather jandals will tell you he is: lonely … Continue reading Beware of the old white grandpa at point chev beach
By Roxanne Richards from GEN M #1 “Generation Migrant”, 2017. One of the first things my dad sought out when he arrived in New Zealand were fellow Filipinos like him. When our family followed him a few months after, another thing he sought out were fellow Filipino families like us. It wasn’t until I was looking for a picture that captured my experience as a … Continue reading Grains of Truth
By Divya Gurung from Musubi “An Exploration of Gender in Hong Kong”, 2017. As a child, she often outran the boys, my mother. Fearless, she was swift to protect herself, or to defend her elder brother from the tussles of tormenting neighbourhood tyrants. The first to swing from tree to tree, as she took on the persona of Tarzan, my mother was unafraid. She took … Continue reading How Much Longer?
By Linda Lew from GEN M #2 “移民一族”, 2017. I had thought I lost my name. The one I was given at birth. The one written in Chinese. 刘凌达 or in Chinese pinyin, Liu Lingda. It’s always been there, used by my parents and extended family who speaks Chinese. But after we moved to New Zealand and as was usual for new immigrants keen to … Continue reading How I Found My Name
By Jasmin Singh from GEN M #1 “Generation Migrant”, 2017. As a migrant and member of the Indian diaspora, I find the notion of home to be confusing and loaded. Disjuncture’s of identity are common to migrants and those from diasporic cultures. Where are you from? Is often tied to difficulties in explaining my identity, I often pick the lie, the easy way out ‘I’m … Continue reading Home.
