SOUTHEAST ASIANS RISE
2021 ZINE ZINE COLLECTIVE COLLECTIVE 2021
BACKGROUND We are a collective of Southeast Asian creatives based in Oakland, CA. We are Thai, Filipinx, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Cambodian, Burmese, and Chinese. Our creativity spans a wide range of mediums, including graphic design, nonfiction & essay writing, drawing, digital art, music, painting, ink drawing, poetry, performance, short story writing, film & photography, comics, and illustration. Over the course of 6 weeks from May through June 2021, we came together to co-produce this community zine, divided into three chapters: Art & Activism, Our Existence is Resistance, and Creating Belonging and Home. We hope you enjoy this collection of art and writing that we have curated!
CHAPTER 1:
ART AND ACTIVISM
"MINGALABAR MYANMAR" Mary Tan is a community-centered artist and visual designer based in Oakland, CA. Her creative practice examines the sociopolitical construction of selfhood and the power dynamics of mezzo-level interactions. She is exploring how art and technology might create more inclusive spaces and societies. Mary creates art with the intent of cultivating critical dialogue and social consciousness.
-MARY TAN
"WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE?" A friend had brought up the topic of beauty standards and it got me thinking and reflecting back to all the things I've heard about the beauty standards for Asian women and how much Asian women have been fetishized to this day. I think growing up in America with so many mixed ideas of how I should look and how I shouldn't look, it was just confusing! Especially nowadays you see people trying to get a look that you were shamed for being born with. You learn at a young age how to appease people in a such messed up way its crazy. Dressing up in our traditional clothing and trying to pull there eyes back and say its a trend, avoiding the fact that these things were something that caused so much pain to our community.it manipulated us to think we need to look like the regular white American women or look Asian enough to feed a fetish.
-LINDSEY HOANG
"ART EDUCATION" For this piece I wanted to talk about the state of art supplies in Oakland art schools. From my experience I feel like there is a lack of supplies and the quality of the current supplies is pretty lackluster. In addition to the supplies' condition the curriculum focuses too much on the history of art which gives less time for students to express themselves.
-KEITH TRAN
"UPLIFT" For my piece, I chose to take an autobiographical approach by featuring a self-portrait alongside stylized text. The words “trans Southeast Asians” are specifically crafted using Indonesian batik print. I focus my piece on trans Southeast Asians because due to legacies of war, colonization, and imperialism, trans Southeast Asian people often experience a fragmentation of identity in relation to race/ethnicity and place. Through my piece, I want to communicate the importance of uplifting the fullness of trans Southeast Asian stories, narratives, and voices apart from what has been imposed upon us by external, harmful forces.
-TEO OCTAVIA
CHAPTER 2:
OUR EXISTENCE IS RESISTANCE
"SKYSCRAPERS & LUMPIA" Justin is a queer son of Filipino immigrants and proud homecook. He recently launched his cooking blog and Instagram, Kawali Made, his love letter to his mom, Lola, and all the home cooks who raised him and to Filipino-American cuisine. Outside of the kitchen, Justin works in the renewable energy equity space for a local public agency. He lives in North Oakland on unceded Ohlone land.
-JUSTIN MARQUEZ
"A PLEDGE FOR HEALING" Reciting the pledge of allegiance daily while in primary school had always been a source of discomfort. This pledge, as we've come to know it, was and has never been for our community's liberation and I refuse to continue reciting it. I have rewritten this pledge of allegiance to become a pledge for my community, a pledge for healing.
-MARJERRIE MASICAT
"MUDDY SHOES" In many Asian households, people often take off their shoes to be sanitary and respectful of the home owner and wear slippers instead. The muddy shoes that leave marks on the floor represent how I feel about being Americanized and how guilty I feel for rejecting my own culture. However I know that theres nothing that could erase my identity and that the slippers are always there if I ever forget.
-KAYLEE DANG
"TRIUMPH" I visualized many struggles probably all asianamericans can relate to. It starts off showing us, our parents, grandparents, whoever, fleeing their homes in search of safety. Most come to America for a better life and even though we are safer here, we still face many obstacles. I highlight the hate-crimes, fetishization, and strict-upbringing of many AsianAmericans with a dark space surrounding the small visuals. Many of these small scenes can be interpreted differently, for example; the disappointed parent can be for a number of reasons and also, no one of my characters is confined to a single gender so that everyone can connect to this piece. Even though we struggle, we always find a way to challenge each of our problems.
-JAZMINE GARCIA-YEM
CHAPTER 3:
CREATING BELONGING AND HOME
"PCHUM BEN" In October 2018, I travelled to the country my parents once called home to not only honor the lives of family members lost during the Khmer Rouge genocide, but to participate in some of the traditions and cultural practices that nearly perished too. Cambodians believe that people who die without the attention or care of loved ones will suffer in the afterlife. But during the annual festivals of Pchum Ben, the spirits of the departed return in search of offerings or some form of remembrance from their descendants. If contributions or efforts are made, the following year will be blessed. If nothing is done, those that have passed will remain in limbo. As hungry ghosts that are neither fully living or fully dead, they will curse their descendants with bad fortune instead. So at the end of the rainy season, life returns to villages. Crowded temples perform rituals participants hope will ensure that the souls of their ancestors are not left to wander eternally. These customs have endured both inside the country and in refugee communities abroad displaced by war and trauma. For many Cambodians, it is an important time for reconnecting with home and family, for reconciliation, and for healing.
-RATTANA YEANG
"HOME IS A PLACE PHO LOVE" The inspiration for my piece is my mom’s homemade pho. When I think of home I always think of my mom’s food first. On the noodles being held by the chopsticks are written the words “culture”, “family”, “comfort”, “friends”. It’s a reminder that home isn’t just a physical place, it’s also a place where the most important things to you are at.
-LYNNE VO
LÁ"" " NÓN LÁ This is nón lá, a Vietnamese traditional hat. It's correctly translated to a palm-leaf conical hat, first appeared in the 13th century, during the Tran Dynasty. I drew this because I want to bring back some old memories of mine, when I was a kid and used to wear this hat everyday in Vietnam.
-NGAN (ALICE) TO
"CONNECTIONS" I was someone who grew up with a large group of older siblings, and I was one of the two younger siblings who grew up to be more Americanized. I didn’t really feel like I fit in with my own ethnic groups, especially at school or family gatherings. To me, Video games will always be an activity that helps me interact, meet and explore cultural differences with people from across communities. Somehow, it allowed me to feel the inspiration to explore my identity at my own pace and there are many games that take inspiration from many cultures. Games are just another medium to unite, explore and appreciate yourself through the concepts in video games taken from many cultures.
-ROSIE MEAN
"HOME COOKED FAMILY MEALS" I am Vietnamese and wanted to showcase my heritage through food. In my piece, I include rice, spring rolls, and sugar cane juice. These are all important to me and my culture.
-VY DO
"A PLACE LIKE HOME" Thinking about my identity has sometimes felt like too much—a series of complicated questions I didn’t want (or wasn’t sure how) to answer. When I was younger, I felt a lot of confusion and shame and guilt around being Southeast Asian-American. This internal struggle was mirrored in my warped perception of our family home, which I always thought was too chaotic and different from everyone else’s. It wasn’t until I had to leave home and grow up that I started to realize that maybe part of figuring out your identity is making a place for yourself within those complicated questions.
-BOOKI VIVAT
"PART OF ME" This piece has foods and items on Lunar New years that make me feel connected to Vietnam and my family. These foods make me feel safe and I always enjoy watching my grandma making these foods. On Lunar New Years I would eat most of these foods to celebrate. Eating these foods remind me of times where I would just eat together with my family and just have no worries.
-CATHERINE DANG
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS for full bios, visit bit.ly/zinebios
booki vivat she/her
catherine d an g s h e/ h er
justin marquez he/him jazmine ga rcia-yem s h e/ h er
kaylee dang she/her
keith tran he/him
lindsey hoang she/her lynne vo s h e/ h er
marjerrie mas she/her
icat
mary tan s h e/ t h ey
ngan (alice) she/her
to
rattana ye an g (he/him)
rosie mean s) (any pronoun
v y do (she/her)
LEAD FACILITATOR teo octavia (they/them)
CONTACT US IG: @seasrise email: seasrisefellowship@gmail.com