It really doesn’t matter how smart or talented you are. If you can’t be on time, won’t learn your lines, are mean to the crew, and are self-centred, believe me, it shows in your work. I’ve had to speak to 2 different young actresses about their behaviour – one made an effort to change, the other hasn’t had work in theatre since. Not because of me, I don’t have that kind of clout, but simply because she had the personality of a cockroach.
Read MoreThe word ‘archive’ is not one that people would usually connotate with fun. Perhaps the first association that might come to mind are the various functions to archive posts and messages on Instagram and Whatsapp. Material that people feel are no longer relevant to them now and best deemed as a relic of the past. A more traditional association might be the idea of the archive as a musty collection locked in a basement somewhere, perhaps something like the Vatican Secret Archive. In both cases, the archive is a place with limited access to artefacts that are not really particularly relevant to our day and age.
Read MoreIn 2018, ila and Sonia Kwek embarked on a spontaneous collaboration for an open call by Rebel Daughters in 2018, as part of International Women’s Day with the aim of “filling up the public sphere, physical and virtual, with works of art done by female creatives from or based in the region”. Using red thread as a departure point, a metaphor for predestined connections for kindred spirits to find each other through different lifetimes. Over the years, both ila and Sonia have collaborated in three different iterations of this project, examining the politics of the body in society. Through email exchanges, they ruminate their experiences in working collaboratively and the kinship that has blossomed and grown over the years.
Read MoreAll Yale-NUS classes are held on campus, a vertical descent and a few minutes’ walk away from our rooms. As you might imagine, that makes waiting for elevators near the turn of the hour a nail-biting experience. Will I make it in time if both the lifts are on the 20th floor and my class with the strict professor starts in five minutes?
Read MoreA pair of padukas, gading-white, as ancient as Iskandar;
A cogan alam, crested by a rearing harimau, maw open;
A cogan agama, tipped by a sabit bulan and a pentagram;
Thirteen payung kuning, saffron sutera, brocaded with noble gold;
A single keris, meteoric iron, a pusaka old as kayangan itself.
When I picked up embroidery seriously in February of 2021, it wasn’t with the direct intention of tying it to my poetry practice. I just needed to get away from people and their thoughts on my devices. Every time my phone buzzed, I felt a deep anxiety. I had to find a way to keep my hands occupied, and not pick up calls or type replies I might regret.
Read MoreIn 1991, the Japanese police were called to Tsukuba University, northeast of Tokyo. A cleaning lady had come in to do her rounds and discovered the body of Hitoshi Igarashi, an assistant professor of comparative Islamic culture. Igarashi was the Japanese translator for Salman Rushdie’s infamous novel, The Satanic Verses.
Read MoreEarly on in Marvel’s feature Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, I found myself wincing in the dark of the cinema hall. The scene in question happens when the titular character is heading to his friend Katy’s house for breakfast. Hearing the Chinese dialogue and reading the English subtitles at the same time made me mutely disappointed.
Read MoreIn an artistic conversation across mediums and geography, five artists discuss brown masculinity and reflect on the way it intersects with their artistry and personal lives.
Read MoreMonsters have a deep rooted tradition within horror as harbingers of unspeakable terror. Feasting upon the very darkness that fuels the anxiety of unknowns, they are the perfect embodiment of the writer’s fear—presenting themselves as the elusive “unmentionables” set on taking over the mind.
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In the spirit of end-of-year reflections, four artists compare their very first poem, rap and song, to their latest releases — discovering how much they’ve changed.
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A comic artist and illustrator draw out discussions about comics, illustration, and power.
Read MoreFrom tackling a fear of yeast to zooming into the online dating biosphere, re-plating food memories to creating new ones, we check in with multi-passionate creatives from both sides of the Causeway to find out how they’ve been feeding themselves in isolation.
Read MoreThere was a tweet that went viral in April, around the time most countries began implementing nationwide lockdowns, movement restrictions and urging people to stay at home. It was understandable why the tweet resonated with people – or perhaps, struck a nerve.
Read MoreAs we wade deeper into Phase 2, more events pop up in my periphery, like satellites blinking just out of reach. Whenever I click on these links, I’m awed by how well-produced they are. The care that event organisers pour into the digital realm cannot be understated. Accessibility, engagement, community: these are all themes I see appear over and over. And with great reason!
Read MoreIt is 11PM on a Sunday night and I am getting a haircut in an industrial warehouse in Geylang. My friend Gwen runs a part time barber shop in this studio space which they share with their partner. There is something about getting your hair cut by a fellow queer person that makes it a hundred times less stressful: a kind of mutual understanding. There is also something about being in a space run by someone from your community that makes it feel like freedom.
Read MoreFirst-time slam poets are known as ‘virgin virgins’ according to Marc Smith, the founder of Poetry Slam. He even has a section in his book Take the Mic on virgin poet testimonies. He writes, “It only happens once, that day when you finally open your mouth in front of strangers and hear your words, your creations crack the silence” (Smith, 78).
Read MoreWhat if I told you that everything I write doesn’t just come from me, but is connected to a source much larger and infinite? You’d probably call me delusional and a bit woo-woo. A bit out there.
Read More2020 has been a wild, vicious ride so far. Luckily, we can still look forward to the one major event of the year that viruses cannot cancel (yet): the highly social distancing-friendly Singapore Poetry Writing Month 2020.
Read MoreDistant are the days where Life! would run a sprawling half-page review of a new local poetry collection, pausing from this largesse only to insert glossy color photo of bard and book.
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