Jennifer Cheuk Photo: Supplied
Everything That Moves, Moves Through Another Photo: Supplied
A landmark anthology Everything That Moves, Moves Through Another brings together the experiences of 27 mixed heritage creatives across Aotearoa.
Edited by Jennifer Cheuk, it started with an open brief, calling for contributors in an “investigation of self.”
The team welcomed anyone across artistic media, heritage and experience levels - from experienced writers, emerging creatives to high school students.
Speaking to Culture 101’s Perlina Lau, Jennifer Cheuk says it’s hoped the anthology will become an online archive for people to be a part of, beyond just the book.
It’s a celebration of self, she says, a connection between one another, and an education and knowledge-exchange between the collaborators. It explores different languages, ways of thinking, beliefs - a way to teach empathy.
Everything That Moves, Moves Through Another Photo: Supplied
Artists were given the time and space over a couple of months to think about what creative form and medium would best suit the questions they wanted to answer.
Questions about their heritage, their family, their background and who they were.
A visual feast, it features poems, comics, prints, paintings, photographs and conversations - with each story presented in a completely different way while remaining personal and intimate. The different styles aren’t sectioned off from each other but rather mingled, creating a curated experience for readers.
Everything That Moves, Moves Through Another Photo: Supplied
“Each page has been deeply considered, not only for the audience experience but also for the contributor experience as well, for them to know their work has been platformed in the way they’d like it to be.”
Cheuk says having your work published can be validating. The collaborators had been talking about images, documents and paper their families had held onto.
“I thought, this is important - the tangibility of paper and things that people hold onto in that way, as this object, is really interesting.
“To see all these works together in a book is really different than seeing it in a documentary film. You can go backwards, and flick forwards and take time. That flow and movement creates a lot of freedom for the audience to read in whatever way they’d like to.”
The title was originally going to be ‘Mixed’ but being a collaborative effort, Cheuk felt it would be a disservice without referencing something in the anthology. Poet, composer and singer Cadence Chung’s poem leapt out with the line ‘everything that moves, moves through another.’
“So much of this considers ancestral heritage and archival imagery and it felt like a generational movement was happening in this book. There’s a lot of conversation and dialogue.
“It was a no-brainer in the end. We all just loved it,” says Cheuk.
This project, in some ways, has been an expression of Cheuk’s own journey of discovery and investigation of herself.
She admits she felt “very angry for a very long time during university and high school - struggling to feel where she would fit in”.
But when she moved into the independent arts scene starting with theatre reviewing, she found her footing.
“I was growing up with things like [TV show] Gossip Girl and oftentimes the Asian or BIPOC (black, Indigenous, and people of colour) characters were secondary.”
Performances by Proudly Asian Theatre (PAT) and seeing artists exploring who they were through that form made Cheuk realise it could be empowering.
“This creative form is a way for people to take up space and converse with each other. There were communities that were talking so openly about these things and it was illuminating to be heard and not have to explain yourself.”
Being understood and not having to explain yourself has been a common theme and feeling during the collaboration of the anthology.
“I was really struck by how much people worked together for this commonality of showcasing each other and their own work. Collective practice is so important - that’s how you keep each other going and keep the scene going.”
