sorjo magazine

A Poem About “Finding the Queer Line”: Unseen, Unnamed, Unspoken

By Guneet Kaur

Art by Nicole Zaridze

My piece is in conversation with Sarah Ahmed’s Queer Phenomenology. I ponder her concept of orientation towards a set of lines which she describes as “lines that direct us, as lines of thought as well as lines of motion, are…performative: they depend on the repetition of norms and conventions, of routes and paths taken, but they are also created as an effect…

A Poem About the White Gaze and the Surveillance of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color: The Looking Glass

By Tuli Chowdhury

Art by Nikita Kallu

The white gaze and how it leads to the surveillance of BIPOC persons. My poem voices how that surveillance serves as an apparatus of willfully ignoring humanity, effectively dehumanizing anyone in its path and depriving an individual of their unique history. Within this poem, the speaker critically analyzes the implications of that gaze and how it serves to…

A Poem About About Surviving as a Former Kurdish Refugee and Migrant Woman: And I Will Live

by Keça Filankes

Art by Keça Filankes

And I will live. And I will live fully. For all my people who cannot. Anymore. Because you killed them. I will live. And I will live massively. For all the ones like me. But rejected at the border.  I will live. And I will live with flying colours. For all the glowing faces. Separated from their beloved. I will live. And I will live the most. For the unborns.

Sorjo’s January 2020 Favorites

Sorjo has an incredible team of passionate creators from all over the world. Here are 7 of our favorites from t.v shows, an app for graphic designers, skin-care and more! 

College by Hannah Karim

1. Sex Education

Fabliha Anbar is the Editor in Chief and creator of Sorjo. One of her favorites from January was the Netflix original, Sex Education! She says: 

My favorite of the month has to be the…

Teenage Beauty Queen: The Pressure of Being Perfect as a Teenager in the 21st Century

by Joyin Akinola

These following photos represents the struggle of being a teenager in the 21 century due to the pressure to be perfect.

  Meet the Photographer: Joyin Akinola is a kind-hearted fourteen-year-old, who many say is wise beyond her years. Her passion for photography started when she was young, taking pictures on her parent’s phones. As she got older her passion only grew…

A Poem About Black Ancestral Traditions: Scented Plums

by Samantha Liana

Art by Kasmir Alyse (The Afrodigiac)

I caught a man last night. He walked past the screened door gloss from the window making him look unused. I buzzed him in. Trapped him like grandma used to do flies between swatter and newspaper. Smell of nag champa and cocoa butter led him like bethlem.

When he flew close I whispered sing to me in his ears. He rubbed his hands

A Photo Series on Family Fights and Alienation: ĐừNg Có Làm Mẹ BuồN (“Don’t Make Mom Sad”)

By Bryan Doan

“Đừng có làm mẹ buồn”was a phrase echoed throughout childhood during tumultuous family fights. I’ve always felt alienated, so I would mold myself into versions I believed would appease them (i.e “corporate business [cis] MAN”). I was born and raised in Minnesota, until a year ago, when I moved to New York. I felt even more isolated in my “pretty” new life and gig. Making art again…

A Powerful Poem About Intergenerational Relationships and Domestic Trauma: Sentinel Gifts

by Elizabeth Jaikaran

Art by Genie Espinosa

Life has taken so much from granny. but it left behind all of her fears. A cabinet left unopened and unraided. For that it has no use. Her joys, her opinions, her memories — she laid them down, surrendered them. And they were collected and packed away some place so far away that she doesn’t know how to get there, all while her amygdala…

The Racial Tensions Between Bronzeville and Little Tokyo and the Impact of “Model Minority” Myth on Interracial Relations

by Zubeda Newaz 

Historically, Asians and Asian-American immigrants were granted the “model minority” status which effectively created divides within the people of color community. By this, I mean inclusive of Black and Indigenous people. White Americans painted all Asian-Americans to be the ‘good immigrants’ because compared to other communities Asian-Americans were ‘making it big’.“During World…

Atlanta Based Artist, SOFAHOOD, on the Importance of Creating Dreamy Illustrations with Queer People of Color

by Sanjeda Nayeem

When searching for inspiration to spark some creativity, I find myself going through my social media feed in search of some artwork that I can resonate with. However, after hours and hours of scavenging, I ended up only finding countless artwork of slim white girls that all started to look the same.

But after hearing from our social media manager, Amna Ali, about SOFAHOOD, I was…

Meet Two Bangladeshi Women Creating Mental Health Awareness in the Bengali Community

by Sanjeda Nayeem

Recently, the advocation of addressing the needs pertaining to mental health has recently been a topic of a larger discussion globally. However, people of color have been expressing the importance of having spaces catered to the experiences that they have as trauma can be very specific to one’s ethnicity, culture, and ancestral history. 

When realizing this, two Bangladeshi…

In Conversation with Nadia Misir: on Archives, Reclaiming Grammars, Poetry in Ordinary Moments, the Politics of Commutes, and Social Media

by Amanda Goonetilleke

Nadia Misir is a writer from Queens, New York. Her writing explores “diaspora, intimacy, grief, and growing up Guyanese in Queens.” Nadia’s work has been published in QC Voices, POETRY, Kweli Journal, and more. 

I first saw Nadia perform at the first open mic I attended since moving to New York. I had never seen a brown woman on stage navigate the otherness and longing of…

Shenu Talks: A Vividly Vibrant Day at Voodoo Festival

by Shenu Kathymoon

With around 100,000 attendees every year, Voodoo Music and Arts Experience in New Orleans boasts a medley of high-profile music artist performances, attractions, art installations, and cuisine. This year’s Voodoo festival was my second attendance to date. I went on the first day of the festival on Friday, October 25th. There were four artists scheduled to play that I was…

Syeda Uddin on How Her Artwork Are Making South Asians Finally Feel Seen

by Priya Uddin

I remember finding myself on the search for art that centers around my Bangladeshi identity, with also the various layers of living in the diaspora in America, and my queerness. However, I always got stuck. I never felt an instant connection to any of the South Asian artwork around me. As someone who’s life revolves around art, there was a longing inside of me wishing I can find…

Dear Diary, from My First Contraceptive Pill Pack and Loving Myself

by Anastasia Dale (@anastasiadale)

In retrospect, I think this diary entry captures a very unique stage of teenage girlhood. In childhood I made ‘memory books’, in late adolescence I kept diaries. For a few years at the beginning of high school, it was a mix of the two. The contrast between the drawings, glitter, candy wrappers and the contraceptive pill pack is representative of this awkward…

Chinese-American Artist Kristen Liu-Wong on Her Galactic Greek Mythology Inspired Art

by Samantha Zhao

⚠️ Content Warning: This article contains artwork related to sex and violence ⚠️

Kristin Liu Wong is a 27-year-old Chinese American artist currently based in Los Angeles, California. When you come across her illustrations, you find yourself sucked into a story that you never want to end. Each vibrant artwork features all sorts of topics; sex, magic, war, feminism, self-…

Shenu Talks: Glove and BRONCHO at Gasa Gasa

by Shenu Kathymoon

  Shenu Talks is a new monthly column on Sorjo, by yours truly, Shenu Kathymoon! She will be writing about what she’s really passionate about—music. She will be talking about album releases, concerts and interviews with your favorite artists!

Upon buying a ticket to a BRONCHO show, you can get ready to expect groovy riffs and coordinated repetitions of the Charlie Horse by lead…