Essay by Louise Cham Art by Keira Innes In his book Lived Refuge: Gratitude, Resentment, Resilience, critical refugee studies scholar Vinh Nguyen notes that “[f]or many refugees, matters of life and death hang on a single narrative” (xvi). As a determining factor for obtaining political rights and protection lies in how their lived experience of
AuthorThe Garden Statuary
Second Street to the Right
Prose by M. Chiao Art by Maxine Gray We were the eyes in the windows as the car rolled into the barangay. Peeking through our curtains and staring at the sleek metal reflecting the sun, we watched as it squeezed into our small street like a wooden block shoved through the wrong shape. The white
because your grandfather is dying
Poetry by Stella Xia Art by Paula Mohar truthfully i am barely out the cradle myself i have no authority to speak on such things cleaving of spirit from flesh reclaiming of fire from man singularity to which everything eventually returns, damned by the sagging gravity of time instead i will tell you about the
On Cundrie and Christine de Pizan: Proclamations of the Wild Feminine, and a Call Towards “Advocating Pure Truth”
Essay by Sophia Bucior Art by Alex Hoang Imagine a sorceress. Imagine her clothing, her hair, her features. Imagine her voice, imagine the words she uses, imagine the purpose behind her words. Imagine wherever it is she comes from — is it far away, or near? Imagine others’ reactions to the sorceress — are they
Karen Magnussen, 1 Week Later
Poetry by Beckett Stanger Art by Margaret Xun I start going on walks in October. Fog covers the valley Night after night. It clears my head. I sit and talk with Friends. Songs calm me down. I tell them about you, Fighting off self-loathing. It is not working. The air is Ripe with decomposing leaves.
it was the cold
Poetry by Jeff Oro Art by Adri Marcano We’re tired tourists sitting around a dinner table drinking a slurry of orange juice and vodka. Easy on the OJ. You ask me for a sip of mine, even though you have yours. I watch your lips kiss the glass under the sheen of the chandelier light.
Filter – revisited
Art by Grace Ko This artwork was originally created in homage to a film called ‘Perfect Blue’ by Satoshi Kon; a sickening tale about a young female idol’s experience in the entertainment industry. The film’s commentary on the sexual exploitation of women in the media was articulated through obscure and volatile imagery that captured an
When Snow Falls into the Caribbean Sea: The Intertwinement of Colonial and Personal Histories in Jamaica Kincaid’s Garden
Essay by Gurleen K. Kulaar Art by Adri Marcano “What to do?” asks Jamaica Kincaid (11). Throughout her autobiographical-botanical text, My Garden (Book):, Kincaid contends with the happiness, vexations, and “series of doubts upon series of doubts” (14-15) she encounters in her garden, grappling with settler colonial legacies as well as personal nostalgias embedded in
Kapok Vocal Cords: Y-Dang Troeung’s Landbridge as Cambodian Memory Work
Essay by M. Chiao Art by Nicole Ma Obscured by Western journalists’ documentation and filmmaking of South-East Asia’s various war during the Cold War era, narratives of the Cambodian genocide often center around trauma, violence, and Western heroism. Many of these narratives act in opposition to its advertised intent, displacing Cambodian experience in lieu of
Writing for TGS
Writing by Annie Wang Photography by Annie Wang I submitted for the 13.2 issue of the Garden Statuary on the night of the deadline. I had submitted my writing for print before, mostly for fanzines or other small-run projects, from which I’d gotten some acceptances, but also a slew of rejections. Each time I had
About our 13.1 issue + contributors
To everyone who made our 13.1 winter issue of The Garden Statuary possible: we thank you from the bottom of our hearts and we want to congratulate again all our contributors for their amazing work this term! With 28 prose, 39 academic essays, 48 poetry, and 4 multimedia submissions, it was a definite challenge selecting
About Our Team
Thank you again to everyone on the TGS team for making this issue happen! Here is our team from the 2023/2024 year: Co-Editors in Chiefs Amy Ng is a fourth-year studying English language and literature and minoring in Anthropology. When she isn’t obsessively reading fanfiction, you can find her listening to kpop, gaming or lamenting
About our 13.2 issue + contributors
As the year rolls to an end, we couldn’t be more thrilled to have had such a great term for The Garden Statuary. Again and again we were delighted, awed and challenged by our peers’ submissions. Out of the 43 poetic, 20 prose, 12 multimedia and 52 academic pieces we received, it was no easy
Malcolm’s Things
Prose by Annabel Smith Art by Alex Hoang The blue dress was hanging on Lizanne’s wall across from her bed, the floaty one with the gathered waist that she’d worn to Mia’s wedding a decade or so prior. She would have to take it to the tailor and have it let out a touch if