Feminine Nostalgia

“As we enter the 2020s, much of the world continues to be strifled in chaos; however, LGBTQIA+ visibility continues to become more prominent in society. "Feminine Nostalgia" asks you to critically analyze the social standard during the 1920s. Many LGBTQIA+ individuals lived in secret, especially LGBTQIA+ people of color. As a result, not many photographs, articles or historical evidence were documented of the community during this time period. What if there was? What would their lives have looked like? "Feminine Nostalgia" captures a love story between two queer, feminine-aligning male identities during our present day.

Another way to put it would be this: imagine a Queer feminine couple, at a hidden speakeasy, adorned in the finest womenswear from the 1920s, who randomly stumbled upon a time machine where they were transported 100 years into the future. Discovered that the universe has been making strides towards visibility of their community. Saw that they could comfortably embrace each other's affection without having to hide, and enjoyed the rest of their days freely loving each other. While simultaneously breaking down the stigma around femininity that continues to remain relevant in Queer male communities, "Feminine Nostalgia” also celebrates Femme Male identities and romance (something that is often neglected). Toxic Masculinity still continues to create division and gender roles within homosexual relationships more than many are willing to admit. Such relationships don’t need to conform to a heteronormative formula, yet the normalization of a ‘dominant’ and 'submissive’ role in gay relationships upholds this notion. For this reason, "Feminine Nostalgia" also represents the future of queer visibility.

It’s a piece of work that attempts to dismantle the normalization of heteronormative gender/sexuality, specifically within the Asian diaspora and cultures. Prior to colonization and westernization, many various Asian cultures had slightly more open-minded definitions of sexuality, orientation and gender. However, a lot of that has been erased from our history. Increasing visibility of Queer Asian media is a small step towards restoring what was lost or never recorded.”

This project was in collaboration with Luci Abrams (@lus.sttyle), Stylist and Concept/Backstory Assistant; Jordan Vu (@jordamn_vu), Model; and Raphael Liwanag (@raph.liw), Model