Take Your Place

PHOTO by Vanessa Ng A full-figure shot of The Mollusc Dimension, a light-skinned East-Asian person seated on a wooden stool in a studio with reddish-ochre open brick walls. He wears a black tuxedo with a satin lapel, white shirt, gold collar pins (octopuses) and a black homberg hat. His head is tilted back a little and you can't see much if any of his hair. He has straight dark facial hair and some eyeliner. His feet are crossed on the bars on the stool and he wears two-tone patent brogues in black/gold. His hands are crossed in his lap and he forgot to wear cufflinks that day. — **PHOTO by Vanessa Ng**

A full-figure shot of The Mollusc Dimension, a light-skinned East-Asian person seated on a wooden stool in a studio with reddish-ochre open brick walls. He wears a black tuxedo with a satin lapel, white shirt, gold collar pins (octopuses) and a black homberg hat. His head is tilted back a little and you can't see much if any of his hair. He has straight dark facial hair and some eyeliner. His feet are crossed on the bars on the stool and he wears two-tone patent brogues in black/gold. His hands are crossed in his lap and he forgot to wear cufflinks that day.

INTRO: I loved taking part in this photoshoot organised by Asians in Britain and Chris Poon, with the photographer Vanessa Ng and a whole award ceremony full of gorgeous East and South East Asians including some rather famous people..!

Full credits below to the wonderful people who made this happen!

The image-based version with the original slides by Asians in Britain is here.

The text-version is below.

THE MOLLUSC DIMENSION - Stop Asian Hate Issue no. 1

“Due to fears around transphobia, queerphobia, everyday existentialist doubt and a desire for privacy I have remained hidden. When I released my debut album in 2019 I didn't even do a press release. But lack of representation fuels racism and I feel like it's time to come through and say hello.”

British-born Chinese, Intergalactic, Queer, Trans-masc, Non-binary Being / Person

Multi-hyphenate artist

A celebration of BESEA identity

Despite my parents' best efforts, I'm a 41-year old queer, trans-masc, non-binary, Chinese, British-born multi-hyphenate artist. I'm based in London via what I call “Fortress” Essex but I would love to move to the sea because I'm a squid.

My parents were from British-colonised Hong Kong. They grew up in the 1950s idealising English tweeness. My love of experimentation scared them and because of Chinese culture, despite my rebellions, the put-downs from then and from society still affect my confidence. From art school to scissoring my own hair because as a girl I had no idea I could visit the barber. Imagine only discovering words like intersectional when you're 36. Now I use it all the time!

I explore culture, race, gender and other aspects of intersectional existence(s) by building worlds (“prolific surviveries”) through drawing, music composition, performance, poetry, video, zines and more. I've been featured as a performer at iconic venues such as The Southbank Centre and The Barbican Centre and my work has been performed or screened in the UK, Europe, Asia, the US – and on the internet of course.

Since 2019, I have worked really hard to produce a body of work:

Off-the-wall comedy videos Pashville and Crushes for Bar Wotever/Open Barbers and Forest Gayte Pride respectively; Theme and Interlude Music Composition for Adventures in Time & Gender (Jason Barker); Film-score composition and video for Breaking The Spell (Bird la Bird/The National Maritime Museum); Scored Ensemble Composition for Chinese Arts Now/Shanghai Table Tennis Festival; Improvised comedy music for Comediasians/Rumah Fest; Live performance for The Bitten Peach UK/The Vault Festival, Devil's Dyke Network, Fringe Film Fest and Trans Pride Brighton; and a multimedia project for Usurp Art. My self-directed music video Take Me Back to the Ocean collected 1k views through the efforts of queer community and allies in less than a week after its release.

Despite my wish to slow down a bit, I am thrilled to see this list. Queers and intersectional orgs finally getting funding. I'm trying to gather the confidence and focus to apply for funding!

It took me nearly 4 decades to start calling myself an artist. One of my main focuses for 2021 is producing a chart-topping hit (!!!) pop song and video “Asians Have Feelings Too”. Contact me if you want to be part of this music history!

Secondly, having self-published fifteen zines, I would love to find a publisher for my poetry, artwork, comics and scores. Simultaneously, I am finding voice by (finally) writing opinion and non-fiction blogs, being interviewed and hosting my own DIY interviews on Instagram.

Making multi-sensory art is vital for my mental health and emotional processing. Despite my age, or perhaps because of it, I have found it incredibly challenging to dismantle gaslighting and access language and stories that affirmed my experience. Although it is problematic, Instagram has been educational for me. Early experiences have made it consistently hard to imagine the future, but in particular, Black queer and trans activists such as Jacob V Joyce, Alok V Menon @Fimi.Biscuit have opened my heart. I feel strongly about decolonising education, creating art and media for transformative justice and mental health.

PHOTO by Vanessa NgA medium close-up of The Mollusc Dimension, an East-Asian person standing in a studio with reddish-ochre open brick walls. He wears a black tuxedo with a satin lapel, white shirt, gold collar pins (octopuses) and a black homberg hat. He has straight dark facial hair and some eyeliner. His thumbs are in his jacket pockets and his head is tilted to one side. He is not smiling and looks directly at the camera. — **PHOTO by Vanessa Ng**
A medium close-up of The Mollusc Dimension, an East-Asian person standing in a studio with reddish-ochre open brick walls. He wears a black tuxedo with a satin lapel, white shirt, gold collar pins (octopuses) and a black homberg hat. He has straight dark facial hair and some eyeliner. His thumbs are in his jacket pockets and his head is tilted to one side. He is not smiling and looks directly at the camera.

“As Asians, I think it is important that when we take up space, we grow our awareness of the hierarchy of systems of injustice. While I'm new to it, I am trying to be aware of my privilege and acknowledge it. I hope this might encourage others to try it too.” (The Mollusc Dimension)

It was an amazing experience to be part of the Asians in Britain shoot! After a year of being stuck in Burbville (where I live) and having experienced corona racism myself, it was tremendously exciting to meet so many friendly and shithot Asians. It's been great to find out more about their work via Asians in Britain. Planning my outfit was also a lot of fun.

Due to fears around transphobia, queerphobia, everyday existentialist doubt and a desire for privacy I have remained hidden. When I released my debut album in 2019 I didn't even do a press release. But lack of representation fuels racism and I feel like it's time to come through and say hello.

When I hear people say they don't think representation matters, I wonder if they knew what it was like to not have seen ANYONE on TV in the UK of similar ethnicity. When I was little, at one point I thought I was Italian because otherwise, it would mean that I didn't exist.

Connecting to the work of accounts like Asians in Britain, ESEAinTech, Besea.n, StopAsianHate and many many other brilliant organisations has started to help me to see things differently!

It sounds cheesy, but it's like a magic painting...

Just add water (maybe some tears and sweat)... and our pictures come to life!

Words: The Mollusc Dimension, June 2021
Interview: Steph Fung, The Founder of Asians in Britain

CREDITS

An extra big shout to Steph Fung, Founder of Asians in Britain for interviewing me and making the slides.

The “Take Your Place” shoot was only made possible due the dedication and passion of these amazing people:

Producers: Chris Poon & Steph Fung

Photographer: Vanessa Ng

Assistant photographer: Jordan Cox

Makeup artists: Nana Andersen & Beatrice Birolo

Stylist: Amna Saleem

Check out the other Asians in Britain #TakeYourPlace interviews and photos!

Asians in Britain - Instagram Mostly image-based
Asians in Britain - Facebook Mostly image-based

Mental health resources

I have referred to some mental health issues in my interview, so here are some resources.

THERAPY

BAATN - The Black, African and Asian therapy network (UK)

Pink Therapy - Gender and Sexual Diversity Therapy in the UK

UK HELPLINES

Switchboard LGBT+ Helpline: 0300 330 0630

Mind Infoline: 0300 123 3393

Samaritans: Call 116 123

If you are not UK based, or if these options don’t work for you, please search for a support line that you can use where you are.

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