Wenfang is a fashion content creator in Northwest China, who believes beauty should be free and not engraved by gender. His work is pushing boundaries in a village where splashy outfits and makeup will have you bullied and labeled as improper. To avoid harassment, isolated rural areas like a graveyard became the safest environments for Wenfang to create. Inspired by Chinese traditional style, Wenfang is known for color matching, costume, and set dressing–taking high fashion and incorporating it into daily life. One of his clear messages is: “If it looks good, why does it need a gender?” He wants people to know there’s nothing wrong with looking how you like, regardless of what others think. And as someone who has plenty of people on the internet cursing his ancestors, Wenfang explains that knowing yourself is the only antidote. Wenfeng only started taking these pictures after his mother passed away: he describes how much she had sacrificed her life for others. “If you have an idea, go ahead and do it. Don’t regret anything.” Today, Wenfang is working on an environmental theme, expressing through fashion how many things from his childhood no longer exist.
Influential people, including local counsel, mayors, and police, are stealing 40% of Karachi’s water and pocketing 50 billion rupees annually, through a system built on bribing leaders. Pakistan’s Chief Minister has created a task force to combat the water theft that has crept up in response. But people are skeptical it’ll take over from what is now a very powerful water mafia. Karachi’s water mafia independently (and illegally) extract water to supply neighborhoods in need and to irrigate crops to feed the people. But, the water is polluted and untested, and people are dying. However, their other option, to rely on leaders, will leave them dead, because they’re the ones enabling this system. Karachi is one of the fastest growing cities in South Asia, and has always had an issue getting water. The reason water operations have become so lucrative is because the water isn’t distributed evenly, and everyone needs it. But there’s consequences to an unregulated system: organized networks are extracting unlimited amounts of water, destabilizing the ground and leaving sinkholes in their wake.
Here’s an insider’s look into Kee Moo, where queer performers found friendship, belonging, freedom, and safety. As a group of friends bonded by both sexuality and music, they share their journeys to self-discovery–and what their favorite pop stars like Whitney, Beyonce, and Britney taught them. In Thailand, “Katoey” was a word used to describe transgender people. Now it encompasses all queer people, ensuring greater inclusivity. Kee Moo is a powerful example of diversity within the Katoey community, consisting of performers who share how being confident and courageous can be perceived as attention seeking and abnormal in Thai culture. With the help of their favorite musical “divas”, these five stars create their own fulfilled, authentic, and proud lives. Whether it’s learning that people make mistakes from Lindsay Lohan’s tumultuous career, to “being different is better than being the same” from Lady Gaga, here’s an insider’s peek into how pop culture helped these queer Thai artists persevere and step into their own light.
.png)
Jem elbowed his way into the hardcore music scene with a face and attitude that Australia had never seen. He recruited Sydney’s hardest Asian men - his brother Aaron, Dennis on guitar, Kane on drums, and his best friend Josh - and formed SPEED. The band was struck by the love it received once the music video dropped. The Sydney Hardcore scene took notice, but more unexpectedly the Asian community resonated with their music. With the rise of Asian hate crimes around the globe, SPEED mirrored how Asians felt. Their music became a calling card forAsians to get involved in the Hardcore scene or even start their own band to relinquish their untapped energy. The outcome? Everything good from multicultural Sydney, including street culture, fashion, Hip Hip, tattoos, and hard Asian men.
Put an egg, go broth less, or turn it into a cake - there is no wrong way to make your Indomie. For the last 50 years, Indomie has been the ultimate comfort food for Indonesians. The Indomie cult spread far and wide, even generating rap songs in Nigeria. Watch how Indomie got popular, and meet the chefs that are leveling up how these comfort foods are prepared.
Kyzzhibek Batyrkanova leads a team of women who aim to launch Kyrgyzstan’s 1st ever satellite. As the program director at the Kyrgyz Satellite she built a team of unstoppable women who will make history. They learn the basics of engineering and apply those skills to build a nano-satellite that can collect and analyze data from outer space. Once they reach the final goal of securing a launch service provider, the satellite will be transported to the International Space Station and launched into orbit. In a country where young women face rigid gender stereotypes and even kidnapping that forces them to become wives, the women at Kyrgyz Satellite are pioneering a new space for girls in STEM. Do you want to support this program? Donate here: http://patreon.com/kyrgyzspaceprogram