同 愛
what is revolutionary love?
同愛 tong oi: same love exploring how revolutionary love manifests in a queer chinese body traumatized by abuse and shaped by mental illness. this is a story of how i’m learning, growing, healing, and living.
i am not merely existing i am living and i am living in love in love with you in love with life in love with myself and here i am despite it all a queer, mentally ill womxn of color the world has so much against me and i know these institutions hate me but here i am not merely existing but living and loving
talking a little too loud smiling a little too wide laughing a little too hard falling in love a little too deeply with life
they ask me, “have you ever loved someone to death?” and to that i reply, “have you ever loved someone to life?”
when i fell in love with you i fell in love with the world, too thank you for breathing life into me
live in a place that you could fall in love with so that you may learn how to live in love and within love
let yourself become grounded grounded in love grounded in softness grounded in emotions stronger and better and more powerful than your current state let them be a reminder that your heart can become light again
i am slowly learning that an absence of words does not equate to an absence of love i am slowly learning that suffering does not make love obsolete but also that love cannot heal all suffering i am slowly learning and accepting the ways love speaks its truths
art allows me the privilege to explore the souls of others art allows me the privilege to explore the soul within me in these moments it feels as if i am watching life unfold before my eyes
Dana Chan