Taeyeon Song (she/her) is the Community and Engagement Events Intern working under the supervision of Dr. Kevin Leomo. She has just finished her second year of a Doctor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and likes instant ramyun, Stephen Sondheim, and getting angry about colonialism.
This July, Thinking Culture had the privilege of hosting performances by Sean Wai Keung and Jing Ye, two prominent creative voices in Scotland’s East and Southeast Asian diaspora in ‘A History of Fortune Cookies’ X ‘Strokes of Identity.’
Presented under the fairy-lit ceiling of Civic House, Sean and Jing presented two complimentary performances that asked questions such as How does one define where home is? What is belonging? How does one’s life path and creative practice form one’s identity?
In ‘A History of Fortune Cookies,’ Sean lead an intimate shortform performance in which he explored the themes of inauthenticity and ‘mixed-ness’ while delivering an monologue that took the form of a fortune cookie making workshop. ‘A History of Fortune Cookies’ will be playing at Summerhall during this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and as such, Thinking Culture was delighted to offer a Glasgow audience a wee preview of his performance before the start of festival season.
In ‘Strokes of Identity: Creating Cultura Names with Calligraphy,’ Jing shared a short piece of creative nonfiction about navigating Chinese and Western identities while reflecting on her multi-syllabic Chinese name and the adoption of her English name. Afterwards, Jing lead our audience in a Chinese calligraphy workshop where each participant had the opportunity to create their own Chinese name.
Both performances were followed by a panel discussion, in which the performers shared their thoughts on their cultural identities, their creative processes, their hopes for the future of Scotland’s artistic landscape, and how living in Scotland has shaped their writing and performing. The questions discussed had no definitive answers but left both our performers and our audience feeling curious and reflective.
Together, the performances of Sean Wai Keung and Jing Ye invited dialogue, emotional resonance, and newfound appreciation for the diverse life experiences within Scotland’s East and Southeast Asian diaspora.
