elevating the work of East and Southeast Asian artists and makers in the UK: an interview with DontCallMeOriental
Don’t Call Me Oriental (DCMO) is a platform, shop and pop-up exhibition space that elevates the work of East and Southeat Asian (ESEA) artists and makers in the UK. deputy editor-in-chief Michelle Moira Mei Ling Firth speaks to founder and director of DCMO, Mildred Cheng, who shares her experience thus far in creating DCMO.
catharsis and, or as, art: how grief changed my relationship to art
deputy editor-in-chief Michelle Moira Mei Ling Firth reflects on her struggle to reconnect with art after painting her way through the initial months following her dad’s death. within, she discusses the tension between art as catharsis from trauma, and art becoming trauma, and how this changed her relationship to art. the piece was edited under the kind guidance of editor-in-chief Rachel Baker.
mother’s gaze by cat zauner
in this photo essay, accompanied by an interview with Deputy-Editor-in-Chief Michelle Mei Ling Firth, Cat Zauner reveals her influences as an artist and what shapes her personal style of photography.
‘are you a porn category, or are you white?’ a conversation with SexyAsiansInYourArea on performing East Asian femininity
in their short scratch performance, Sexy Asians In Ur Area Dying 2 Meet U, Camilla Anvar and Zelda Solomon explore tropes, language and what it means to be both sexy and Asian within and against the circumscriptions of Asian femininity delimited in theatre and beyond. Deputy Editor-in-Chief Michelle Firth chats to them about their show, East Asian representation and the complexities of finding a place in desirability amidst the perils of self-objectifying and fetishizing.
my whitest demeanour
in My Whitest Demeanour, Michelle Mei Ling Firth evokes her personal struggle to reconcile the sudden wave of anti-racist clicktivism that swept white people's Instagram feeds during June. the poem is accompanied by an illustration from Chloe Francesca.