“Kua is the Mandarin pronunciation of the prefix ‘trans'. It’s not just a state of in between or becoming, but a hybrid state of its own kind.”
– Yu’an Huang
Presenting the inaugural issue of her brand new cross-media publication KUA 跨 to a wider audience, Curatorial Writing Fellow Yu'an Huang hosts a Publication Launch at Chisenhale Gallery to mark the beginning of a publication series and the end of her Fellowship.
Zoé Whitley, Director of Chisenhale Gallery and mentor to Yu'an, opens the public event with an introduction to the institution's mission to strengthen community, collaboration and support. Yu'an is joined by her fellow contributors Jeanne Constantin, Lara Baclig, and Marwan Kaabour via Zoom, participating in a roundtable discussion that delves into the transnational and translocal experience of a young person removed from their place(s) of origin(s).
Like in so many instances, at the heart of KUA 跨 also lies a personal story. Yu'an expands on her experience of being denied a visa as a young woman after a very long time in the UK, which led to an odyssey of relocation, parting, isolation and reintegration. On her path, however, Yu'an meets likeminded people with similar experiences which started driving the project of the publication series.
Marwan Kaabour, identity designer and founder of Takweer تكوير, shares how the visual universe of KUA's website is reminiscent of the copious amounts of visa paperwork, travel documents and processes a transnationally relocated non-"Western" person has to endure. Jeanne Constantin who designed the first issue and is part French/part Swiss delves into her story of reintegration between her home country and the subsequent countries she had lived in and the conflicting emotions it has caused, which she has tried to manifest in the pages. Lara Baclig, copy editor and social media copy writer to KUA and researcher of East and Southeast Asian communities, shares how the different people who worked behind the scenes have attracted her to collaborate as the complicated relationship towards one's home and identity has deeply resonated with her own journey.
The publication launch was preceded by a small registration-only Creative Writing Workshop, led by writing tutor Alison Chandler, where participants engaged in a piece of Yu'an's own fictional writing as a methodology to write, form and reframe factual stories.
To secure a copy of KUA 跨 01: RE-INTEGRATION, check out their website and Instagram. To send in feedback or stories for ongoing issues, please submit to:
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