SubStories - Issue 01 by Ngoc Dao

SUB °1I S S U E DECEMBER ‘17

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SUB NGOCDAO

STORIES

PHOTOGRAPHERS Xin Xin

Shu

Charisse

Shana

Rae

Joyce

photo graphers 00

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Sy n c h ro n i ze d S wimming A collective project detailing commentary on the depraved, materialistic state of the world, Xin draws parallels between the emptiness of our society to the emptiness within, the corruption of innocence and purity as sexualization of children runs rampant, and the erosion of our own identities stuck between individuality and conformity, the lone wolf and the mob mentalities. Who are we, and what do we live for? When life is a number, the numericals of our status, the net worth of our estate, the time ticking down to our funerals, life becomes one void of thoughtfulness, and becomes one of programming. Examples shown through such images presented below, I specifically draw parallels between the corruption of the next generation to the capitalist, blur of a world we live in today. Innocence of children are being corrupted, the nostalgic of the decades old happy meal broken as we are thrusted into a

XIN

society no one knows the path to. Mass media and corporations find formulas for our addiction to their products, the comparison of Marlboros to Mcdonalds fries is drawn clear. The explicit sign of a man fingering the opening of the happy meal provokes discomfort, but I wish that society is as angry towards such crime in real life as they are to a digital image on paper. In the age of communication and technology, the act of sending nudes become as profitable and easy to acquire as a simple fast meal; our bodies are fast food, the corporations are the chains. They call fast food brands a chain because they link together but they seem to be the other kind of chains that ties society down into quiet, manageable livestock. On the topic of sexualization, fetishes come into play. The mocking and degradation of Eastern culture specifically Japanese fetishes are rampant in the current generations of youth. Women are seen as nothing more as objects and Western media likes to portray themselves as superior to everyone else. Like, oh, in the West, women are treated fairly, they arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t used as shields or bombs, they get to wear what they want. I dont know what Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m saying anymore oh gosh this is just rambling half of this isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even true to what i think its just.... to provoke outrage, think different, EAT EGGS THEY MAKE YOU SMART

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XIN

Models: Sica Thai and Chippy

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Model: Yume Ka

Misf it s S U BS TOR I ES // M AG

Model: Sei

I’m Fuk k in’ It

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Mc DO N G aldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

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Model: Kaz

Hu man Islands

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Model: Label

YAB AIY BAI ENT 10

Model: Kris

SHU D įē u-

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I was born into a high achieving Chinese family, while growing up there were many conflicts regarding my academics. The problem got worse when I entered university, it started to interfere with my social and physical freedom. Back in second year of university I spent a very large amount of time on socializing and making friends, but neglecting school work which resulted in poor academic performance. When my parents found out about the poor academics that I had in the very same year, things got heated and went south really fast. My mother became suicidal and tailed me for a year, I was restrained at home and not allowed to go anywhere else other than to the assigned classrooms. It felt as if I was confined and chained in an empty cell, and there were only food and books in front of me. It was my choices and decisions that lead me down this very path, and I am fully responsible for all the consequences that followed. During the next few years after that event, I have tried to hide everything from friends and tried my very best to be a good son at home. There was not much I could have done other than being on my best behaviour because I did not want to lose my mother, I had to be strong. It was suffocating. To cope with struggles I picked up new hobbies, and photography was one of them. I used to roam the streets alone at night and just try to forget about everything and be in the moment of taking pictures. Soon after my mother brought me a camera after noticing that I liked photography, but that camera were soon taken away from me. Like giving a homeless person a bag of gold, and soon after being robbed by the same person who have given them that exact same bag of gold. Without my friends I would not have had the chance to further continue in the field of photography, some modelled and others lent me their camera to shoot with. I am sincerely thankful to all of those friends who have helped me along the way. Without you folks I would not have found myself, without you folks I would not have continued in photography. If you folks are reading this. Thank you. Photography is a way for me to express myself and to use pictures to show my emotions without the need to tell others, in a way to stay hidden and yet show emotion in a different light. The entire process is very freeing. Along the way I have met many people and a few of them I became very close friends with. They are very supportive and understanding, pushing each other to explore concepts, to express new ideas, to slowly step by step making a dream a reality.

SHU

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Sâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; o p p - se r Through photography I want to reach out to those who are also experiencing the same struggles, in a way to show that they are not alone. In the future I want to address social problems within our society and bring it to life through pictures. My series of past works have been influenced immensely by my life experiences and the current emotions running through my veins during the time.

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R e nc ont re r du t e

Model: Xin Xin S U BS TOR I ES // M AG

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Model: Art S U BS TOR I ES // M AG

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Because the art being featured is my recent photography work, I’ll elaborate a bit on how I started and why I chose this medium: Most people don’t believe me when I mention that I first started taking photos this summer. My interest and involvement in photography began with my interest and involvement in the cosplay community. I saw images online of amazing special effects and composite edits and started playing around on photoshop by myself; turns out, I wasn’t bad at it. After about a year of watching and assisting cosplay photoshoots, I picked up my friend’s DSLR and decided to try my hand at the craft. Instead of editing other people’s work, I wanted to develop something of my own. For this reason, I chose to submit one of my cosplay photoshoots! It shows off my style while being an ode to my photography beginnings. Cosplay also played a large part in the development of my style. The surreal, “fake” quality in my photos stems from my goal to make my cosplay photoshoots as accurate (to the og character) as possible. The “artificiality” of anime, movies, and comic books is a huge inspiration. I believe that by applying this style to simple controversial topics, ideas that people may be tired of talking about can be revitalized. Citrus Beach is a series that explores the inequality/double standard in femininity and censorship. Pretty in Pink elaborates on this theme. It comments on society’s standard of femininity placed on girls from a young age. They all try to free themselves of this standard, but are ultimately trapped in the mold.

RISSE

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CHARISSE S U BS TOR I ES // M AG

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Model: Xin Xin

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Citr us B e ac h

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Model: Takumi

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models/ cosplayers S U BS TOR I ES // M AG

SHA-NYAN Sha-Nyan is a self-taught, Toronto-based cosplayer who loves to eat, sleep, pet cute animals, and create costumes of her favourite characters. Although she has been active in the community since 2013, she still considers herself a novice. Her favourite thing about cosplay is making friends who shares her love of anime. I first came up with the name “Sha-Nyan” as a cross between my nickname “Shana”, and the meowing sound a cat makes, “nyan”. When I started, I was a naïve, angsty teenager. I saw cosplay as a creative outlet, which allowed me to express myself. Although the cosplay journey has seen many sleepless nights, fights between friends, festive dinners, and paychecks spent, each event was an element that shaped me to who I am today. Maybe in the future I’ll give up cosplay, but for now, cosplay has become my lifestyle and I will cherish every second of it. Thank you for supporting my hobby!

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Photographer: Herbiecide

SHANA

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Photographer: Joe Huang

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Photographer: Herbiecide

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Super So n ic o すーぱーそに子 Photographer: Roguesader

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Ro r y M e rc ur y ロリー·マーキュリー Photographer: Daniel Sham

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Photographer: Yernad

Ko iz u mi H anayo 小泉花陽 S U BS TOR I ES // M AG

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Photographer: Roguesader S U BS TOR I ES // M AG

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I’ve been cosplaying for a fairly long while—around 6 years—but during this entire time, I was very aware of the fact that this would not be a self-sustaining career unless I dedicated my full attention to it and essentially priortize it over all else such as my education. But it would be fairly unstable or hard to profit from

小雷 RAE

so I choose to work on my education first instead of cosplay. Same goes for my modeling, which I actually only got into last year. I think people often glamorize the modeling industry and see only the surface of this field based on social media (like IG). The schedule for modeling is extremely variable and often times, auditions/shows fall during class time. Hours at shows and shoots are often really long and end up fairly stressful and tiring. I sincerely don’t know how far I’ll go with modeling, but it’s enjoyable for the time being.

Photographer: Lee McVittie

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Photographer: Charisse 45

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我本人很無聊 ?!

Photographer: Karlos Amache

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Photographer: Brett Ida

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Cat woman

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JOYCE At first I cosplayed because I went to a convention, and the other costumes there were amazing. I thought the idea of portraying characters that I loved was really cool, and I wanted to do it too. However, soon after, it became not just a way for me to appreciate different anime, games, and movies, but also a way for me to meet new people. I love being a part of this community, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s given me so many opportunities to make new friends. Yeah, the pressure does get tense sometimes with a lot of people seeing cosplay as something competitive, but at the end of the day, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s something for me to have fun with and enjoy with my friends.

JOYCE

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To jo N ozomi 東條希

Photographer: Herbiecide

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So n g Ha na - D. Va 송하나

Photographer: Amaleigh Photography

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Photographer: Teekay S U BS TOR I ES // M AG

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Yuri P lise t sk y ユーリ · プリセツキー Photographer: Amaleigh Photography

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