In 2021, Priya Krishna asked “why do American grocery stores still have an ethnic food aisle?” The righteous anger of those interviewed underlined the main feeling of the piece: an ethnic food aisle is too small and too limiting for modern tastes. It is a racist conceit that smashes those cultures considered “ethnic” together while … Read More
Fresh off the festival success of Moshari, filmmaker Nuhash Humayun is back with another horror short – Foreigners Only, part of the third season of Hulu’s Bite Size Halloween, zooms in on the micro injustices of neo-colonialism in the modern age. In Bangladesh, where Foreigners is set, there is a clear and deep preference for expats. Landlords … Read More
Poet, screenwriter, and now debut author Fatimah Asghar follows the release of their highly-acclaimed poetry collection If They Come For Us with their new novel When We Were Sisters, out this week. Focusing on the lives of three orphaned Muslim American sisters, and told from the perspective of the youngest Kausar, When We Were Sisters … Read More
LA.MIMI’s music demands you listen with headphones. The non-binary Pakistani-based artist’s tracks are roving sound baths with careful, eerie lyrics. The details in the sound spin around and above your head as you listen, ready to disappear into the ether of an empty room. With their debut EP M.BRYO, LA.MIMI is committing memory to song. … Read More
Arranged marriage casts a long shadow over South Asian culture. As a way to maintain religious barriers, caste affiliation, socioeconomic standing, and patriarchal standards, it seems like a vestige of history. We might like to think the tradition of arranged marriage, and its satellite concerns like dowry and honor killings, might simply die out with … Read More
The reluctant wedding guest is a mainstay of the romcom genre. It’s a trope ripe for dramatic speechifying and dance montages. And in recent years we’ve seen it deployed successfully with films like Plus One and Palm Springs, proving that romcoms in the 2020s are still alive and still boldly asking if a woman can … Read More
Ashni’s new EP Who I Dreamed Of begins with a whisper – the musician lilts softly over a persistent strumming and gentle piano with the first song “Light Bends.” Instantly reminiscent of the singer-songwriters of the 90s and aughts but with Ashni’s own signature touch, Who I Dreamed Of is only three songs but it … Read More
1+1=1, a footwear and handbag collection from Brooklyn-based Jaipur designer Saumya Sharma, is a study in functionality. The pieces, which Sharma made herself by hand, are at first art objects. They are unwearable until the viewer/wearer pulls the tab that unstitches the opening. From there they can continue to customize the fit and fall of … Read More
Released last month, Montreal-based singer Edwin Raphael’s single “Sights Like These” brings on a trance-state almost immediately. Hypnotic, circling vocals combine with guitarist Dhruv Visvanath’s instrumentals to create a sound bath for meditation. Reflecting on moving on from hurt, lyrics like “I’m fainting & you won’t turn around” and “I’m faking but you won’t figure … Read More
Farah Naz Rishi’s YA romance It All Comes Back To You is part Austenian marriage plot and part You Got Mail farce. Following the days before the much anticipated wedding of Amira and Faisal, the book focuses on their respective siblings, Kiran and Deen, as they scheme against each other to hide secrets and derail the wedding. … Read More
