Lotus by kayapress

L L O O T T U U S S

A zine created for Asian American Studies 104B: Asian American Publishing with Kaya Press (Spring 2024)

Thank you to Professor Banerjee and all my contributors

Sabrina Poon

Editor’s Note

The above photo was taken at the 2023 Cigarettes After Sex concert at Hollywood Bowl. I had forgotten what it was like to be surrounded by such captivating music and realized just how much I underappreciated music as an artform. That time had marked a period of extreme uncertainty for myself (not unlike the one that I currently face with graduation looming ahead), and I was quite honestly nervous for what was to come. And yet, I was hopeful and filled with excitement that I had not felt since childhood. That summer, I worked on a film set for the first time in my life. Words cannot describe the joy I felt as I ran all around LA to different filming locations and met so many wonderful people. I also began to invest so much time in myself by journaling everyday and curating my Spotify playlists to my daily moods. I connected with myself through my writing and through the music that I listened to. I can now confidently say that the summer of 2023 was my best summer yet, and it was because I felt endless freedom to explore myself and my passions creatively. Despite all the art lessons I was enrolled in when I was younger, that summer was the first time I learned the true power of art: art allows us to explore ourselves in ways we might not have ever discovered before. And we are surrounded by art everywhere we go. Art is the foundation of this world. We are all artists. We may be artists in our own ways, and that might mean that we don’t prefer the traditional forms of art such as painting, but creativity flows through each and every one of our bones.

Through this zine, I set out to showcase the work of Asian Americans I know personally that are forging their own paths in their respective creative fields. In many ways, I view Asian American artists as resisting these harmful tropes that have been placed on them -- these beliefs that they must choose the more seemingly stable path and leave their creative passions behind. I hope to resist these stereotypes myself by instead fostering and highlighting the creativity that is so prevalent in the Asian American community. Asian American artists deserve to be known in every discipline. For far too long have we been silenced and subjected to these notions of who we must be. Instead, we can define who we are ourselves.

I named this zine Lotus because in Chinese culture, lotus flowers are symbols of beauty and rebirth. To me, creating art is creating a new part of ourselves, and thus, in a sense, a rebirth. I hope you enjoy learning more about my peers’ work as much as I enjoyed creating this zine. With much love, Sabrina

cat claw nails with features and shedded shape skin encapsulated inside

pierced orchids created using 3D sculpting gel and a real septum piercing

piercedjunkcat clawnails

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Rachel Sun started practicing nails one year ago in May 2023 and instantly fell in love with experimenting with unusual

textures and shapes with 3D sculptural gel. She mainly specializes in claw nails which are formed from polygel and extension stickers. This nail shape was created and popularized by Marggie Nails and other Russian nail artists. She loves experimenting with encapsulating different designs within the claw nails and perfecting its geometric form. In addition to cat claw nails, she also uses 3D sculpting gel for nail art which allows her to create objects like a pierced orchid and fish bones on nails. This new medium transforms nail art from the 2D to 3D and since she also loves sculpting and ceramics, this was the perfect blend of two mediums.

fish bone nails

cat claws that have an inner pink part

GRUNGE(2024)

was inspired by the mood of grunge aestheticisms that were prominent in popularized media in the early 2000s. During the process, (Anonymous) tried to capture a candid yet cinematic quality to the photos, while also expressing the duality of personal style in relation to conformity and broader social expectations. This series was completed in collaboration with Fashion and Student Trends (FAST) at UCLA.

Right now

Emily Chu

“I wrote ’Right now ’ in November, drawing inspiration from the warm, fuzzy feeling you get driving home at night with someone you love being around. Relationships can get so complicated and transactional, but this song is really about seeing someone for who they are and not asking for anything more. Sometimes being present with someone is all that really matters. Funnily enough, my friends helped me take the song cover in the car while on our way to get dinner, putting a purple Trader Joe's bag over an iPhone flashlight to make the picture purple. "Right now " is definitely one of my favorites and I loved the whole process of putting the song out and everything.”

Director of Photography: Tejas Raghuram

Death Watches (2024)

Zoom Goons (2024)

Director of Photography: Tejas Raghuram

Tejas Raghuram is an undergraduate cinematographer, with most of his work being in narrative shorts and music videos. He aspires to compose images with a sense of cinematic nonreality, to take what is on the page and translate it into a rich and visually lush world, motivated by the emotions of the story itself. He especially enjoys working on genre films, where the fantastical nature of the stories is able to provide a unique perspective on what it is to live in reality.