home through the lens of wyatt

design by wendy lei

artist statement:

Learning to make this recipe is what reminds me of home. It's one of the first Vietnamese recipes I've learn to make.After much trial and error, I personally think I have finally perfected! I don't get the opportunity to eat at home too often anymore due to my dad being too busy with work to make his amazing dishes. As for my mom, she gets too tired as well, so she usually makes quicker food recipes or not at all. When I do get to eat more traditional food dishes at home, it's a homey feeling—especially when they or I cook something super special.

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home through the lens of constance

design by amanda la

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artist statement:

Ideally, this is what home is. But of course, life has its twists and turns and home won't always be the pleasant things. I'd say it's normal for asian families to have its many struggles, especially within its relationships and communication: there's the tense silence during meals or the nagging about a room that needs to be cleaned. Regardless at the end of the day, what keeps home, home, is what I make out of it—a tapestry of the happy things I focus on.

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home through the lens of anaan

Anaan Choudhury. The Gentleman from Dhaka. Graphite Pencil. November 2019.

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artist statement:

Pictured below is my Baba during a short period of his life when he lived in Florida. Some time mid-summer, one of my uncles came to visit and scope out the Bengali community in the area to see if it was suitable to move his wife and children there. To immigrants like my Baba, home is a place that is created. He’s pictured here making his famous spicy omelette in his most casual form: a lungi and undershirt.

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home through the lens of victoria

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artist statement:

Quite frankly, my friends and family gives me a sense of home. As long as I’m having fun and laughing with no stress or worries, I consider where I’m at to be home. Home is where I feel the most comfortable, and I find that serenity and peace within the people I surround myself with. This video is a collection of great memories from the past couple of years that have made me feel alive.

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home through the lens of amber

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artist statement:

I created this piece to show my admiration for my culture amidst growing up in a predominantly white suburban area, as shown by the colorful creatures from Korean culture emerging from the gray houses. Even though at times I felt out of place in my hometown, reminding myself of my culture has become a source of comfort.

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home through the lens of sara

design by amanda la

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artist statement:

All my life, I have never truly felt at home. There was this looming sense of otherness, of being so far removed from the people around me. Loss, letting go, and being let go became almost fundamental to my existence. I was a house with one door, which people left through.But, sometimes in life, you will meet a person who won't flinch when you show the the secrets hidden beneath the floorboards. It's hard to believe, but that person will help you become a home with two doors; one to leave out of when things get too much, to travel, to be on the road and have your heart’s fill of the world’s happiness. And one to come back into - into the arms of the one who found abode in the depths of your soul - when you are weary and tired.

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home through the lens of ivy

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artist statement:

This song, while simplistic, reminded me of home whenever I was actively serving in the Army. The tune and lyrics gave me hope that I would soon be reunited with the people I love most.

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thank you to the following contributors for their submissions:

🍳 Wyatt Pham is a wrestling and swim coach located in San Jose, California. He loves to contribute his talents to coaching young athletes through tough challenges and takes great pride in leading his team to success. He is an aspiring math teacher who is working towards receiving his necessary certifications so that he can simultaneously teach and coach at his beloved high school. He hopes to instill both academic and athletic success in his students, like his amazing mentors have done for him too. When he is not actively educating young minds, he loves to hit the gym and explore the Bay Area with his friends visiting food and boba shops!🎞️ Victoria Huynh is a fourth-year, Vietnamese-American student at Cal State Dominguez Hills. She grew up in Orange County with her friends and small family besides her parents and older sister. She aspires to be a digital marketing manager and bring more creativity into the world. Her simple pleasures in life include painting hydroflasks, grabbing tacos in Los Angeles with friends, and going to concerts to sing her lungs out to her favorite songs.📝 Constance is a 20 year old freshly graduated with a diploma and an existential crisis. She loves lazing around, playing with her two cats and idly falling asleep in the middle of the day. She has been trying to go for a weekly skate on weekend mornings but her bed is too comfortable.🎨 Anaan Choudhury is a first-generation student at Smith College. She is a proud Bengali-American and spends her time between Texas and Massachusetts. In her free time she enjoys studying art history and spending time with her cats.🎨 Amber Lee is a Korean-American who grew up in Santa Clarita, California. She is currently a first-year transfer student majoring in Asian American Studies and minoring in film at UCLA. She is also the stand-alone art coordinator for the Daily Bruin and sole designer of UCLA's student newsmagazine, Pacific Ties. As a way to relax, she likes to listen to music as she takes long walks around campus.🎵 Ivy Vo is a Vietnamese-American immigrant who is very proud of her ethnic heritage. She has served in the United States army as a medic and is currently working to achieve her Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Hawaii at Moana. She loves to de-stress by listening to music and jamming out to hits of the 90s.📝 Sara Rathmore is a 19-year-old author and poetess from Lahore, Pakistan. She is thrice published; "I Lived With Death," Meraki (which won the Daud Kamal National Literary Award in 2018) and Obituaries for the Dead and the Undead. She is currently set to be a journalist and majoring in Media Studies from Kinnaird College for Women University. She is also a radio jockey for her university's radio, where she does weekly broadcasts.

editors' letter

To our readers,Home can take many forms: homelands and faraway cities, languages that flow easily out of our mouths while still having the occasional words trip over our tongues, objects that hold significance—representing irreplaceable memories, the taste of a certain meal, and people whose faces we can’t forget even long after they’re gone.Through this website, we hope to conceptualize the theme of home and the beautiful multidimensionality of such a simple word. And through the poems, artworks, and video from our wonderful contributors, we, the editors aspire to provide you a taste of home and how it can make one feel safe, comfortable, and alive all at the same time.“Home Through the Lenses Of…” aims to capture the soothing and aching feeling of remembering, longing for, and coming home. As you browse our unique collection, our hope is that you can also find a place to call your home.Warmly,
Amanda La, Linh Vo, & Wendy Lei

P.S. if you click on our signatures, you might discover what home means to us as individuals!

amanda's letter !

wendy's letter !