Spiritual Skin
For centuries, indigenous tattooists working across Asia have marked human skin with powerful designs and symbols in their quest to signal ethnic identity and render the body sacred. Carried through life and onwards into death, these marks of humanity testify to an ancestral legacy that is in danger of gradually fading away.
Suspended in Time: A Life of Devotion
Text & Photos by Angelia Tan
It’s an old island here in Koh Samui. Situated on the east coast of Thailand, the history told takes...
A Totem of her Generation
Identifying herself as a Franco-Belgian photographer of Chinese origin from Malaysia, Diana’s transient life between three different continents has informed most of the philosophy behind her photography. Diana explores the ancient ritual of adorning women with symbolic clothing, religious objects, amulets and heirloom jewellery. Her purpose is to fuse the past and the present, the traditional and the modern, and to effectively create new possibilities of defining a woman’s identity.
Asia’s Sweet Success: The History of Ice Cream in Asia
by Selina Tan
The concept of a frozen dessert is one that goes back thousands of years. By pouring a mixture of salt and ice...
Little People of the Andaman Islands
By Jayanta Sarkar, Anthropological Survey of India
Additional Information Researchers at the Database for Indigenous Cultural Evolution, University of Missouri; Anvita Abbi, Professor of Linguistics,...
The serenading suitors of the Philippines
Under a courtship ritual called harana, it was compulsory for Filipino men to sing to their sweethearts
Above Sea Level
Long before the sun peeks over the horizon, artisanal fishermen across Malaysia’s Johor Strait gather at their respective jetties and beaches, looking forward to the day's bounty. Climate change now threatens their way of life, and many locals are powerless in the fight to bring climate change to the political forefront. The future of these coastal communities is filled with uncertainty.
India’s Pink War
They wear pink saris, wield sticks and don’t hesitate to use violence in their fight for women’s rights. These are the ladies of the Gulabi Gang, an association created by Sampat Pal Devi to eradicate gender violence in India
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Namasté
The Hindu devotee’s hands are pressed together. His palms touch, close to his chest, and his fingers point upwards. His brightly-coloured turban is in stark contrast to his thick white beard. “Namaste,” he says with a slight bow. Literally translated, the word means “I bow to the divine in you.” A respectful greeting, namaste, or namaskar, combined with the wordless hand gesture, conveys the same meaning of acknowledgement for a loved one, a guest or a stranger, regardless of the speaker’s language, culture or religion.