International Examiner

With striking portraits and testimonies, “Guardians of Life” shows indigenous peoples’ indispensable ecological worldviews

By Juanita Tamayo Lott - https://iexaminer.org/with-striking-portraits-and-testimonies-guardians-of-life-shows-indigenous-peoples-indispensable-ecological-worldviews/

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Not surprisingly, “Guardians of Life” is an ambitious, visually stunning coffee table book of the natural world. Award-winning National Geographic photographer Killi Yuan has created timeless portraits of the indigenous peoples on the lands and the waters of Alaska, Palau, Ecuador, Mongolia, Australia, Greenland, California, Alberta-Montana and Vancouver Island. From the Ecuadorian rain forests to the various waters surrounding the Palauan archipelago, Yuan’s photos have the elements of presence, of being there. One is feeling, tasting, seeing, smelling, and hearing the land, the waters, the fires and the ice and then, comes face-to-face with the animals and humans. The thoughts and words of the community people who shared their stories with Yuyan and Mann evoke a pause for reflection.   

The subtitle is “Indigenous Knowledge, Indigenous Science and Restoring the Planet.” It is a pleasure to hear the voices of peoples whose knowledge and way of life existed thousands of years before Western science. Over and over again they articulate and live a world view not as the “Lord of Creation” to alter the world in one’s own image. Their worldview is that they are a part of creation. In Greenland, Qaanaaq hunter and musician Aleqatsiaq Peary succinctly states, “It’s not like we’re the only animals in this world…We are not the only ones in the world that need to live.” Fashion model and land protector Quannah Chasinghorse in Alaska says: “When we understand that we are a part of nature and the cycle of life, it allows us to see ourselves as a relative of and part of the land.” Victor Steffensen, founder of Firesticks Alliance in Australia notes: “The knowledge is in the landscape. The Elders have not passed. The land is an Elder too.”

Artist Eric Chan’s narrative explorations of q***r third culture identity

By Vee Hua vee hua 華婷婷 [fka vivian]] - first published in REDEFINE magazine REDEFINE magazine and later reprinted in International Examiner INTERNATIONAL EXAMINER 🐉

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Q***r Korean-Chinese American painter and visual artist Eric Chan Eric Chan 陳志宇 진지유 creates technically-proficient, symbolism-laden paintings that explore his intersecting third culture identities. A self-taught artist, Chan intermixes the personal, familial, and the historical by weaving together sense memories, diverse portrayals of q***r and Asian bodies, precious objects pertinent from his childhood or household, and references from Korean or Chinese antiquity.

The resulting works, created in water-based oil paints on wood panels, give viewers an immense amount of material to unpack and interpret from their own perspectives. Those with identities that partially or fully overlap with Chan’s may find the most resonance, as they decipher words written in Korean or Chinese, find themselves in portrayals of q***r bodies, or see objects that might have had meaning in their own lives.

“My artwork has allowed me to create a multicultural visual language that extends beyond my limited grasp and monolithic viewpoint of each of my parents’ and grandparents’ regional dialects, hometowns, and ethnic origins,” Chan explains. “As I continue to untangle and decipher folk art and ancestral traditions from afar, I hope to offer a knowingly unorthodox view of each of these histories to similarly displaced, diasporic, or hyphen-descendants and audiences who find moments of belonging to be extra precious when living within these in-between sometimes spaces.”

SeattleNews

Ordinary heroes use their time on this earth well

OPINION by Abraham (Tiger) Song - https://iexaminer.org/ordinary-heroes-use-their-time-on-this-earth-well/

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In this essay, I’ll talk about a few ordinary people who have lived in Chinatown. I’ll start with my sister.

In 2005, my mother and my sister moved to America. It was my first time flying long distance, and I argued with my sister en route. I was seven, and my sister was thirteen. We lived with our grandparents in the Bush Hotel. Growing up, I wasn’t exactly a well-behaved kid. I had ADHD, often left my hat or jacket at friends’ houses, and spent my time skating around, selling sneakers and ma*****na. Maybe I lost touch with my more conservative roots because I didn’t grow up in China as long as my sister did. She was always better behaved than me.

My mother often told me the story of birds raising their young before they fledge. The parent birds would drop the chicks from the sky to see if they could fly—and if they couldn’t, they died. That kind of tough education was meant for my sister, but not for me. My mother spoiled me instead: she drove me to school, picked me up, and took me to after-school activities. My sister, on the other hand, had to take the bus everywhere. So, from a young age, she became much more independent than I was.

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PHOTO: On Aug. 28, 2020, International Community Health Services (ICHS) staff celebrated the first anniversary of ICHS PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly), a state and federally funded program designed to help seniors “age in place” at home. Photo by Rick Wong.

SeattleNews International Community Health Services (ICHS)

Burnout and belonging: Why one immigrant woman left tech to become a filmmaker in Seattle

By Arsene Chi - https://iexaminer.org/burnout-and-belonging-why-one-immigrant-woman-left-tech-to-become-a-filmmaker-in-seattle/

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At night, after leaving her employer’s downtown Seattle office, Vimel Meng would return to her apartment in Belltown and collapse onto the couch facing Elliott Bay. Through the apartment’s floor-to-ceiling windows, she could see the water near Pike Place Market, the distant mountains, the afterglow of the setting sun, and the seagulls circling above the city.

She often spent hours lying there in silence.

“I felt like my life was already good,” Meng said. “But I still felt like something was missing. I felt like I was always searching for something.”

SeattleNews Vimel Meng