Red Pine: My Life
Post Magazine, South China Morning Post

The American translator of Buddhist texts and poetry, also known as Bill Porter, talks bank robberies and meditation with Clare Morin. Read more... 

Henrik Drescher & Wu Wing-yee
Post Magazine, South China Morning Post

"Henrik Drescher is standing in front of a class of illustration students at the Maine College of Art, in Portland, in the United States. It’s 9am and the Dane – one of the most revered illustrators in the world – wastes no time in offering what may be the best advice the students will ever hear. “I want you to cultivate the muse,” he barks at them. “You’re on a deadline but you need to loosen up. You need to learn how to counteract the anti-muse. All of you are talented but some of you will not be able to let go of the anti-muse, perhaps for your entire lives." Read more... 

Transgender Transcendence
Post Magazine, South China Morning Post

"There is a passage in Nicola Jane Chase's memoir, Tea and Transition, that has a particular resonance for Hong Kong readers. It is the spring of 2013 and she is sitting in her home-recording studio in Queen's, New York. She is about to play the last track in the final episode of her long-running radio show for RTHK's Radio 3." Read more...
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Nancy Wolf: Architect's Assassin
South China Morning Post

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When Wolf visited Hong Kong in 2001, she was astounded by what she saw and used a list of remaining religious sites to explore her views of the city. 'I thought [Hong Kong] was really the subject of my work,' she says, sitting in the offices of the Asian Cultural Council, the organisation sponsoring Wolf's trip. 'Especially the New Territories. The housing and density and concern for architecture just seem so amazing. That's why I wanted to come back.' Read more...

Susan Weil: Her Story
Time Out Hong Kong

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There is a sense of rarity to the exhibition Motion Pictures that opens at the Sundaram Tagore Gallery this fortnight. The show will be focusing on new works by the 78-year old American artist Susan Weil, a respected figure in modern art history whose life story is truly extraordinary. Read more...


Lara Shah: Good Vibrations
South China Morning Post

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The shaman stands at the counter of Pacific Coffee on Central's Hollywood Road and watches me scan the busy cafe for her. I weave through the tables, looking for a half Indian, half Turkish 34-year-old. Seeing no likely candidate I retrace my steps and order a green tea. And there she is. Read more...



Akram Khan: Scientific Steps
South China Morning Post

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Photo courtesy Richard Haughton, Akram Khan Company
Khan was born in London in 1974 to parents from Bangladesh. 'I was too hyperactive as a child,' he says, sipping his English breakfast tea and smiling. 'I needed to be occupied.'  An astute mother took him to the right place: the Academy of Indian Dance, where at the age of three he began to study kathak. It differs from other classical Indian dance in that it has roots in both Hindu and Islamic narratives. It is a pure form of dance that changes from being furiously fast to serenely still. 'Kathak is finding clarity within chaos. The speed you're moving at is very chaotic but at the same time it's extremely precise,' says Khan. Read more...

Tan Dun: Cast in Stones
South China Morning Post

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Tan Dun, photo courtesy of tandunonline.com.
"It's very emotional and also a very personal journey,' says Tan Dun. The project began in 1981, when Tan was still a student at the Beijing Conservatory and went to Hunan to research traditional folk songs. Along the way he came across a 'stone man' in Tujia village, who drew upon an ancient tradition of stone drumming. 'In eight positions, according to the I-Ching and with the shamanistic vocalisation, he talked to the wind, clouds and leaves; he talked to the next life and the past one. At that moment I felt he was a map.' Read more...

Ramakrishna Sarathay: Future Perfect
South China Morning Post

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When I leave the hotel -  an hour after entering in a foul mood and with a stinking hangover - I am electric with delight and, for the first time in my life, I actually skip down Jaffe Road. I have just spent an hour in the presence of the astonishing Ramakrishna Sarathy - a leading Indian palm reader/face reader/astrologer - and I feel like I have just witnessed a miracle. Read more...