Tuesday, April 28, 2015

the letter and person-behind-counter encounter

11am
went to UM hospital for psychiatric letter that was send to house but no one at home, so the letter is unknown floating around between the Post office Kelana Jaya and UM. 'Person-behind-counter' said the letter was send out on 20th it must be at the post office.

1230pm
Drove to Kelana Jaya Post office. 'Person-behind-counter' insists badly on the registration number of the letter. Felt dumb, stupid and agitated for not asking for the registration numbers of the letter earlier at the hospital. Calm the beast down. Not gonna generate more T after stopping the E and blockers for 5 days already. Y_Y

230pm
Back at UM, repeat (looking for parking, walk 500 meters to patients record office, take numbers).
Inquiry about registration number on the letter.
Person-behind-counter: "blablabla binti blablabla
Me: ^_^
Person-behind-counter: looking at the receipt and correcting the name on IC.
Me: :(
Person-behind-counter: Can take a sit? The person not at his post, he will call back when he got the numbers.
Me: Ok...
waiting..................then phone rings, another person-behind-counter answered the call...then she look around and said "The letter came back on 23rd".
Me: (bucket ice challenge but somebody else poured over my head)
Person-behind-counter: Dash out from the office door and handing the letter...
Me: :) x 10000000...Now all this driving around, walking, sweating in hot sun, i need to reward this self a nice coffee.....hmmmmffffff

Monday, April 27, 2015

make music

use your computer keyboard, explore frm A-Z keys, make music

Kongketrons

Yesterday The launching of Shh..Diam! album (proper sound-engineered), we (the transperson) manage to form a side group (Tingtongketiaw) and i guess i'm happy to have perform infront of small crowd before they got bigger for the Shh..Diam! performance. I tried broke several layers of boundries/walls. I guess i like performing making songs but to face crowd more than 10 people its a bit difficult. But yesterday was fun. The crowd was supportive. I know that most of us are introverts but some manage to break their own rules i guess....
3 short songs/peformance. Hopefully this experimental folkintranspunk can go on....

1. Marilah Pulang
2. 6x6x6
3. Apa lagi

http://shikacorona.tumblr.com/post/117389931091/apa-lagi-tingtongketiaw-kongketrons-shhdiam

Sunday, April 19, 2015

komuniti

...



DUKTIG

...
Today Sweden's National Board of Health and Welfare presented their National Guidelines for trans people’s health care. This is a work that began in 2011/2012 after a Government Survey on the situation for trans people in Sweden showed numerous issues concerning the standard and scope of health care available.

The guidelines are largely based on the WPATH's Standards of Care v. 7 and will make high quality, publicly funded healthcare available for all trans people, not just restricted to persons with a Transsexualism diagnosis (ICD-10 F64.0) as has been the case until now.

This includes hormonal therapy and surgeries as well as other treatments which will be publicly funded in line with all other health care in Sweden.

The biggest change is that Facial Feminization Surgery (FFS) along with liposuction of the pelvic area to enhance masculine body shape will now be made available to patients suffering from severe gender dysphoria.

A special set of guidelines has been developed for young trans people and will cover the use of hormone blockers on the indication of Gender Dysphoria from the onset of puberty and hormone therapy when a diagnosis has been established.

Monday, April 13, 2015

Gender Identity / multiple identities we adopt and discard


When i was at the women manga conference in Manila organize by Japan Foundation few months a go i came across a conversation between 2 of my friends, She was talking about how she came from a Jehovah Witness family and how she is a free thinker herself and finding hard to fit in or how she kept it all to her self and another friend said something like, yeah its hard, "They will try their best to protect their "identity". That word stuck in my head until i few days ago i was presenting my work at Publika about "Gender Identity" and always figuring out how to tell people or society who's not familiar with the trans issues as simple as i can for example, "Sex is your hardware & Gender is your software, and some people born with both Sex & Gender aligned which they are called "cisgender people" or non-transgender people while for trans people they live their lives try to realigned their outer hardware to match their softwares..."

While compiling the work, i realize something that we actually or "intersectionally" since we were born into this world are also brought into many "solid identities" that was formed way before wether we like it or not, like "race", "religion", "traditions", "nationality", and then when we go through life we adopt to more identities like "geek", "nerds", "introvert","extrovert", "artist", "anarchist", "goth" "liberal", "humanist", "atheist", "punkrocker", "metalhead", "feminist, "genderqueer", "maknyah", "transpinay" etc, and keep creating a new one for ourselves as we navigate this world and our daily lives.

Some identity traditionally passed down and some adopt them without questioning it, and nowadays we create our identities within the reality we go through today.

When i was discovering myself earlier (before the internet age), the only term i knew exists was "transsexual" and then as times go by late 2008 onwards, the word change with the movement, more and more defined and the term transgender exists but its a word that encompasses others who don't fit to the traditional cisgender ones. And now simply transwoman or transgender woman and the awareness about being transgender or transwomen/transmen, is now is more clear and at the forefront to change many laws and policies to be more inclusive to this other part of human being or the reality itself that was once taboo or at the background of everyday life. Life itself is very fluid or like a river and we're just in a boat floating on it, crossing paths with each other, "intersectionalities", learning, experiencing life in this age and times....
So yeah, i wonder how many identities does one adopt and discard in one life...
#justathought


http://www.mmail.com.my/opinion/zurairi-ar/article/never-a-better-time-to-be-a-trans-ally

consume.chew.digest.excrete

...

Saturday, April 11, 2015

tasty doodles...

...

Performing Gender













An Audio visual presentation and conversation featuring Sharon Chin, Shika Corona, Sharaad Kuttan and Edwin Sumun, moderated by Thilaga, Founder of Justice for Sisters, that will explore femininity, masculinity, gender performativity and the diverse expressions and manifestations of gender through art and performance.

Here is an article on gender expression and identities that will give you an idea of the topic that they will talk about :
http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/books/2015/03/12/tbt-when-cross-dressing-was-crime

Judith Butler - Gender Performance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fndkPPJBi1U

About our speakers :

Sharon Chin (b.1980) is an artist living in Port Dickson, Malaysia. She makes all kinds of things in all kinds of places, from galleries to city sidewalks. She's hung sails across an embassy lobby, listened to strangers' hearts on the streets of Sydney, and gotten teargassed while wearing a costume of yellow flowers. Recently, she bathed in public with 100 people for "Mandi Bunga/Flower Bath", a project at Singapore Biennale 2013. She is currently working on 'In The Land that Never Was Dry', a series of illustrated journalism pieces about water issues in Malaysia.www.sharonchin.com

Shika is an illustrator and artist from Kuala Lumpur. She regularly contributes artwork and illustrations for the use of various groups and NGOs. Select exhibitions include 'The Art of Giving: Nobody Gets Left Behind' (2015), Singapore Biennale 2013, API scholarship(2013-2014),'Seksualiti Merdeka', Annexe Gallery, Central Market, Malaysia (2012), 'Malaysia's 49th Merdeka Mural', National Art Gallery, Malaysia (2010) and 'Not That Balai', Lost Generation Space, Malaysia (2005). Aside from being an artist and traveling across art circles, Shika or Shieko is regularly involved in community mobilization and empowerment activities with the trans community.

Edwin Sumun is a critically acclaimed award winning theatre practitioner. Having received an award for Outstanding Contribution To Theatre in his early 20s while living in Germany, Edwin returned to Malaysia in 1997 and rebooted his career when he was invited to be a member of The Instant Cafe Theatre Company in the same year. The company fined tuned his perception for socio-political satire. Having found his voice and strength in telling stories of individuals and identity, Edwin founded his own company, SUMUNDA in 2004. Then in 2009, Edwin, having noticed a change in the theatrical and social climate, decided to introduce SHELAH!!! to the public. Created as a reaction to an article by a politician, SHELAH!!! has since become the beacon of expression of self and continues to spread joy and living ‘right’.

“Being my self is just the beginning of what I born to be” says Edwin
“He’s the guy who gives me life (and great hair!)” Shelah quips

Edwin was commissioned to write for the World Economic Forum as he remains in Malaysia. Shelah has travelled and performed, including the Vienna Arts Festival. Together they won the Audience Choice Award at the 11th BOH Cameroonian Arts Awards. Together they continue to share their tears and laughter with everyone.

SPEAK UP! Thie panel is part of artACT!
Free admission.



Thursday, April 09, 2015

A night of hope, nobody gets left behind

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Exhibition raises funds for marginalised Chow Kit community

The Art of Giving: Nobody Gets Left Behind aims to raise funds for the urban poor and marginalised community in downtown Kuala Lumpur.
She may not be a household name but illustrator Shieko Reto has been thrilling local art lovers with her whimsical and hilarious art for a few years now. Drawn on diverse canvas – from zines to tote bags, posters and postcards – her deceptively simple cartoons belie the gravity of her subject: the experience of trans women in a prejudiced society.
Her Waiting Room installation, shown at the Singapore Art Biennale in 2013, in particular captures the inner world of transgender persons in Malaysia, where transgender issues are still taboo and trans people live in waiting their whole life – ”waiting to heal from surgery, waiting (for a reply) for the job application, waiting for opportunities in life and waiting for acceptance from family and friends”, she said in an interview for the Singapore Art Museum.
It is only apt that now Waiting Room is finally on show in Malaysia, it is to help raise funds for the marginalised communities of Chow Kit whose lives are in limbo after the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development abruptly stopped the funding to their home and refuge, Pusat Bantuan Khidmat Sosial (Social Assistance and Services Centre or PBKS).

Part of The Art Of Giving: Nobody Gets Left Behind exhibition at Black Box MAP, Publika, Solaris Dutamas, which ends on April 5, Waiting Room is one of more than 20 works by eclectic artists who have come together in support of SEED (Social and Enabling Environment Development), a non-profit community organisation staffed by members of the communities themselves which ran the PBKS centre in Chow Kit.
For seven years, the PBKS drop-in centre has made a difference in the lives of those in need in the city. The centre caters to marginalised peoples such the homeless urban poor, people living with HIV, and the transgender community who face discrimination. The centre provides them with food and drink, medical advice, spiritual and religious guidance.
Other works on show include illustrations by Jun Kit of himself as a Man and as a Woman, silkscreen paintings by Bogus Merchandise and paintings on the Malay women by Norhayati Kaprawi.
Also noteworthy is Repent Or Die: The Rise of Shelah (2010) by Pang Khee Teik, part of a series of photographs made in “response to the Censorship Board’s Policy that LGBT characters should repent or die”. He may be better known as the LGBT activist behind the popular Seksualiti Merdeka festival, but Pang is an acclaimed photographer in his own right.
Some of the artists taking part in this fundraising exhibition include Dhiyanah Hassan, Nazreen Nizam Rao, Azura Kathleen McIlwraith, Sharon Chin, Rat Heist, Regina Ibrahim, Jellene Eva, Julya Oui and Poodien Free Spirit. The free admission exhibition runs till this Sunday, 11am to 6pm daily.
On April 4, a live performance, A Night Of Hope, will be held at the exhibition venue (8pm). The shows features performances by Elvira Arul, Wana, Sajad, Cicie Sinclair Blonde, Fazilah, Vee, Ayu Siti and others. Entry to the show is RM50 (donation). Book tickets at helpseedgrow@gmail.com. More information on Facebook.
This exhibition takes place during ‘artACT!’, an initiative by MAP. This three-week long programme features exhibitions, documentary screenings, talks, workshops and special performances in the name of art and advocacy.

Friday, April 03, 2015

The Art of Giving: Nobody Gets Left Behind

The Art of Giving: Nobody Gets Left Behind aims to raise funds for the urban poor and marginalised community in downtown Kuala Lumpur.
http://www.thestar.com.my/Lifestyle/Entertainment/Arts/Frame-Up/2015/04/02/Exhibition-raises-funds-for-marginalised-Chow-Kit-community/

The Art of Giving: Nobody Gets Left Behind aims to raise funds for the urban poor and marginalised community in downtown Kuala Lumpur.
She may not be a household name but illustrator Shieko Reto has been thrilling local art lovers with her whimsical and hilarious art for a few years now. Drawn on diverse canvas – from zines to tote bags, posters and postcards – her deceptively simple cartoons belie the gravity of her subject: the experience of trans women in a prejudiced society.
Her Waiting Room installation, shown at the Singapore Art Biennale in 2013, in particular captures the inner world of transgender persons in Malaysia, where transgender issues are still taboo and trans people live in waiting their whole life – ”waiting to heal from surgery, waiting (for a reply) for the job application, waiting for opportunities in life and waiting for acceptance from family and friends”, she said in an interview for the Singapore Art Museum.
It is only apt that now Waiting Room is finally on show in Malaysia, it is to help raise funds for the marginalised communities of Chow Kit whose lives are in limbo after the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development abruptly stopped the funding to their home and refuge, Pusat Bantuan Khidmat Sosial (Social Assistance and Services Centre or PBKS).
Dhiyanah Hassans Tell No One (ink, acrylic, gouache, 2015) will also be on parade with two other pieces from the artist at The Art Of Giving: Nobody Gets Left Behind exhibition.
Dhiyanah Hassan's Tell No One (ink, acrylic, gouache, 2015) will also be on parade with two other pieces from the artist at the exhibition.
Part of The Art Of Giving: Nobody Gets Left Behind exhibition at Black Box MAP, Publika, Solaris Dutamas, which ends on April 5, Waiting Room is one of more than 20 works by eclectic artists who have come together in support of SEED (Social and Enabling Environment Development), a non-profit community organisation staffed by members of the communities themselves which ran the PBKS centre in Chow Kit.
For seven years, the PBKS drop-in centre has made a difference in the lives of those in need in the city. The centre caters to marginalised peoples such the homeless urban poor, people living with HIV, and the transgender community who face discrimination. The centre provides them with food and drink, medical advice, spiritual and religious guidance.
Rat Heist, who is a familiar figure in the local punk scene, contributes the provocative sculptural work At Ease (mixed media, 2014) at The Art Of Giving: Nobody Gets Left Behind fundraising exhibition in Kuala Lumpur.
Rat Heist, who is a familiar figure in the local punk scene, contributes the provocative sculptural work At Ease (mixed media, 2014) at The Art Of Giving: Nobody Gets Left Behind fundraising exhibition in Kuala Lumpur.
Other works on show include illustrations by Jun Kit of himself as a Man and as a Woman, silkscreen paintings by Bogus Merchandise and paintings on the Malay women by Norhayati Kaprawi.
Also noteworthy is Repent Or Die: The Rise of Shelah (2010) by Pang Khee Teik, part of a series of photographs made in “response to the Censorship Board’s Policy that LGBT characters should repent or die”. He may be better known as the LGBT activist behind the popular Seksualiti Merdeka festival, but Pang is an acclaimed photographer in his own right.
Nazreen Nizam Raos Rooted (mixed media on canvas, 2015) is one of the many works contributed by art activists towards The Art Of Giving: Nobody Gets Left Behind, which runs at Black Box, MAP, Publika in  Kuala Lumpur until April 5.
Nazreen Nizam Rao's Rooted (mixed media on canvas, 2015).
Some of the artists taking part in this fundraising exhibition include Dhiyanah Hassan, Nazreen Nizam Rao, Azura Kathleen McIlwraith, Sharon Chin, Rat Heist, Regina Ibrahim, Jellene Eva, Julya Oui and Poodien Free Spirit. The free admission exhibition runs till this Sunday, 11am to 6pm daily.
On April 4, a live performance, A Night Of Hope, will be held at the exhibition venue (8pm). The shows features performances by Elvira Arul, Wana, Sajad, Cicie Sinclair Blonde, Fazilah, Vee, Ayu Siti and others. Entry to the show is RM50 (donation). Book tickets at helpseedgrow@gmail.com. More information on Facebook.
This exhibition takes place during ‘artACT!’, an initiative by MAP. This three-week long programme features exhibitions, documentary screenings, talks, workshops and special performances in the name of art and advocacy.

Wednesday, April 01, 2015

Get Slimmer Thighs

"Get Slimmer Thighs" 
"Go Starving Trends"
"Garam-Sayur-Témpé"
- mak anon

Aku percaya satu hari nanti
di langit terbangnya anak-anak babi.
Aku percayakan semua ini
lebih dari diri aku sendiri.
Aku percaya Najib baik hati
baik hati, baik hati, baik hati.
Aku percaya Anwar rendah diri
rendah diri, rendah diri, rendah diri
Aku percayakan semua ini.
Kerana mereka itu Dato Seri.
Aku percayakan khidmat GST
mampu membantu sistem ekonomi.
Aku percayakan semua ini
lebih dari diri aku sendiri
Aku percaya Najib baik hati
baik hati, baik hati, baik hati.
Aku percaya Anwar rendah diri
rendah diri, rendah diri, rendah diri.
Aku percayakan semua ini.
Kerana mereka itu Dato Seri.