[Literature] - Coconut Dreams by Derek Mascarenhas

By Shailee Koranne Image Courtesy of Book*hug Published by Book*hug Press in 2019, Coconut Dreams explores the lives of the Pinto family through seventeen linked short stories. In Coconut Dreams, a boy exposes his town priest’s crimes through a thrilling series of events; a widow reflects on a romantic safari trip while watching The Lion King;…

[Theatre] 49th Day at Next Stage

Reviewed by Allyson Aritcheta All Images by Zeeshan Safdar In Việt Nam, a young woman rushes through a cemetery, dropping before a grave. Shaking, she burns incense, makes offerings, and performs rituals, waiting for a sign from her deceased grandmother. Alone, the woman confronts her complicated relationship with her loved one. Weaving together poetry and drama,…

[Exhibition] Pattern (dis)Placement by Soheila Esfahani

By Allyson Aritcheta All images by Jing Tey Soheila Esfahani meditates on cultural translation by examining ornaments and souvenirs as vessels of “portable culture” in Pattern (dis)Placement (2019). The Iranian visual artist aims to disrupt cultural origins by exploring the spaces between cultures that influence the ornaments and souvenirs on display. The ornaments that Esfahani…

[Exhibition] Beyond Borders - CONTACT Photography Festival

By Allyson Aritcheta All images by Jing Tey OCAD University students test the things that separate us in Beyond Borders, examining themes that deal with physical, psychological, and societal divides. These works process borders in surreal and evocative ways. Immigration Inspired by the story of King Shahryar in One Thousand and One Nights—a tale of…

[Film] Memories of My Body, directed by Garin Nugroho

Featured Image courtesy of Fourcolour Films *Includes Spoilers* TW Warnings: Violence, Sexual Abuse, Body Traumas Text by Philbert Lui Lengger is a traditional form of Indonesian dance originating from the island of Java, where the dancers are allowed to perform and play freely with fluid gender identity. Memories of My Body uses this particular form…

[Exhibition] “Salam From Niagara Falls” by Mitra Fakhrashrafi

Text and Images by Laila Jafri “Salam From Niagara Falls” features a series of mixed media manipulations from the personal archives of local Afghan and Iranian artists as they rearrange their idea of home within the context of settler colonialism. The exhibit is curated by Mitra Fakhrashrafi, who credits family photographs at Niagara Falls as…

[Literature] Toward the North - Stories by Chinese Canadian Writers

Published by Inanna Publications in late 2018 and edited by Hua Laura Wu, Xueqing Xu and Corinne Bieman Davies, Toward the North: Stories by Chinese Canadian Writers is an anthology of short fiction written by Chinese Canadians over the last 20 years. This review was done by Jasmine Gui I was stoked to be asked to…

[Exhibition] “Never Never Land” by Ghazaleh Avarzamani

By Allyson Aritcheta All images by Tey Yu Jing Pieces of slide are held up by metal frames. Drawings of playgrounds line walls. Two giant soap blocks sit on wooden platforms. Wrapped in walls of blue, Ghazaleh Avarzamani’s Never Never Land houses game-based drawings, sculptures, and fibre works. Avarzamani’s first solo exhibition in Canada questions…

[Literature] Anna Wong: Traveller on Two Roads

Published in August 2018 by the Burnaby Art Gallery in Vancouver, Anna Wong: Traveller on Two Roads is co-written by Ellen van EIjnsbergen, Jennifer Crane, Zoe Chan, Keith Wallace, and features a variety of perspectives on different aspects of Anna Wong’s life offered in both English and French translations, accompanied by stunning, full-colour images of her work. The book…

[Theatre] Fine China & A Perfect Bowl of Pho

Reviewed by Jennifer Su Featured Image Courtesy of Dahlia Katz There are the stories our parents tell us about our families and their origins, the stories we find in search of identity, on displacement and belonging, and then there are the ghost stories. For those of us in the Vietnamese diaspora, ghost stories are more about…