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