Currently: I am re-examining my relationship to my body–that forgotten instrument, a vehicle of my consciousness, an extension of self, my best friend and foe.

Question: How do we acknowledge our body? Recognize it, care for it, and love it with an honest tenderness?

I want to feel before thinking. I want to listen to the song inside myself before I cast judgement and silence it before it even has a chance to whisper.

Dedicated to my mom who taught me how to be brave.

Metadata

Inspiration: Janelle Monae, femtech, programming languages, children and play, Tokyo and its extremes [hyper futurist-underground-tradition-contemplative-plastic-reservations]
Places: Ezra’s kitchen counter, Shibuya cafe, alleyways and in-between spaces
Music: I created the beat “MISSTEP” in London at Ezra’s kitchen counter, surrounded by playful and supportive loved ones. The second beat is “PYNK” by Janelle Monáe (Instrumental Remake By Roam FM).
Technical: I edited the footage in Final Cut Pro, recorded the song in a tiny Tokyo hotel room using Garage Band. Eric Kim led the cinematography ((Lumix G9Pro + Leica 12mm f.14, 4k 24fps) and was my empowering creative collaborator.
Poetry: Written in a Shibuya cafe while
- softly gazing at the patterned footwork of pedestrians
- thinking about my mom and her dreams of dancing
- learning python
- sipping overpriced coffee
- tapping my feet to the rhythm of this mysterious city.

MISS READING’S Journey

My current projects MISS meditates on the meaning of all things deemed ‘mis-‘ –wrong, dirty, broken, ‘abnormal.’ From misfits to misreading, misunderstandings to mistakes, MISS/MIS confronts the categorical impulse of labeling things as good/bad, yes/no, men/women, appropriate/not. I pause, ponder, and ask why? Join me on this journey.

Chapter 1: MISSFIT [Recognition]

I am tired of treading softly between glass boundaries of what is considered ‘appropriate.’ I am tired of listening obediently to the voices of Reason, the Future, and Others tell me that I must be more or less. I want to look in the mirror and see myself, not others.

Chapter 2: MISSTEP [Movement]

A celebration of the chaotic sublime of self.

A song in my stomach, twisted into computerized contortions
A wellspring of movement, made mistakenly malicious.

The way you make me feel, I make me feel, I make me me.
Seeps out, secretly through the meticulous cracks of caked fears.

“a two-step misstep to the clackety clacks of computer keys”

by Cindy Nguyen (Poem/Lyrics)

Command + A step here.
Control + Zipper. No, zebra. A zigging and zagging and surrender to the zephyr on my cheek.
Option + Alt you. You hilarious tease of forgotten functions.

Mavis Beacon, did you say something?
I can’t hear you between the patterned pecks of perfect precision.
Move/Be/Do Here, there. now. Everywhere. Nowhere.