Content warning

The content you are about to read might be considered offensive or inappropriate because it quotes racial slurs and homophobic names called to people who look and/or act different than the ‘normalizing crowd’. I have decided to quote these terms in an attempt to heal myself from the mental harm that these terms have caused me since my childhood years. This text/image is an act of resistance against racist and homophobic voices existing in my consciousness and an unapologetic declaration of rebellious Queerness – of challenging normativity in all its oppressive forms.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Paneleiro”

“Panelas”

Male white Portuguese voice screams

Fag, faggot

It means

Oh am I supposed to understand their language?

Isn’t my language

“Ching chong ling long”

Am I not a Chinaman?

“Jackie Chan”

They used to call me

Chinkie winkie little twinkie

A racist inner voice mocks

Is this voice ‘I’?

.

“Courage, child, courage!

Stand up against these bullies in your mind”

Mother Earth whispers

We stand with you

We love you Unconditionally

Heal my love my dear

From toes to navel to heart to crown

Rise and scream:

.

I am Whole and I’m Queer

Yea ying fucking yang

Dance its dance of creation in me

In every breath I take

Manifesting form

No labels can fully fix ‘my being’

‘I’ am sourced from the sea of non-self

Conditions and seeds

Sperm and egg into the realm of senses

Eyes, ears, nose, mouth, skin…

Burn like tinder in this forest fire

.

Oh Mind-Monkey jumps from branch to branch

Up until it sees the moon’s reflection

And jumps

into the Lake of Void

Ahhh

.

But Fire continues to burn all around…

Oh the journey continues…

 

 

Abirdscalling

Cages (2018)

Mixed-media (Watercolour, Sumi ink, Photoshop collage)

29.6 cm x 24.5cm