TCK Photography for Chameleon project by Lauryn Ishak

Photography & Story by Lauryn Ishak

When I was young, I never dreamed of having the life I have today. I have been absurdly lucky to have had a multi-cultured upbringing and education and privileged enough to be able to choose to do what I love most, ignited by my TCK experiences.

I was born in Germany to a German / Bahasa speaking parents, but quickly moved back to Indonesia, spending my childhood living a simple but comfortable life. My TCK life started when I was eleven. I moved to Hong Kong where I attended a German-speaking school because I spoke no English. The idea of leaving my extended family and friends behind was simply beyond my comprehension, and the prospect adjusting to a foreign place where I understood no one and thought no one understood me simply compounded my “misery”. However, as time passed, I began to appreciate my new surroundings. It allowed me to travel, meet new friends and most of all, broaden my perspectives on life.

Remembrance is a huge part of the TCK life. Every so often a new life awaits, somewhere else, somewhere foreign. These life changes are exciting but terrifying at the same time. It requires you to put your faith in something new that you’ve never dreamed of; putting your faith into something you can’t see.

As a TCK, you take your past experiences to your next destination and those cumulative experiences shape your character and sense of values. You become more aware and respectful towards the variety of cultures in your world – especially when you go on to live in multi-cultural, multi-religious cities like New York and Singapore.

I hesitate when people ask where I’m from. After all these years, I’ve still not perfected an answer. Frankly, I don’t know where home is at this stage of my life and am not inclined to pick one. Home is wherever I currently am. Fifteen years on, I can’t imagine life being any different than it is today.

Today, I feel blessed to be able to capture stories and beautiful things in this world through my lens. My upbringing has turned me some sort of globe trekker, growing restless when an overseas assignment isn’t on the cards for a prolonged period of time.

Lauryn Ishak is a photographer currently based in Singapore. She holds a BFA in Photography and Imaging from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Visit her website here.




















(Above) Pbotography (c) Joe Flood, Alaine Handa performing Chameleon @ Capital Fringe Festival w/ Lauryn Ishak's photography as a backdrop.

Chameleon @ Capital Fringe; Photography by Joe Flood

Video glimpse of Chameleon Photography Gallery

Chameleon Photography Gallery at Houston Street Center, 273 Bowery

Photography by Wazha Dube, Albert Gumilang, Mei-Chen Lioe, Michael Mastroianni, Lauryn Ishak

Poems by Edith Södergran, Alex Graham James, Leilani Chan
Spoken Word by Alaine Handa

Chameleon Photography opening!

Rehearsal Report

The showcase at the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) conference on Jan. 8, 2010 went really well. We had a great audience and some folks from InterNations came to the showcase. I decided that week to interlace the dance sequences with the documentary film I've been working on. The interviews I've conducted with Third Culture Kids have spurred a lot of inspiration for the dance. It is amazing to meet and talk to interesting group of Third Culture Kids from all different walks of life. Their stories and experiences are touching and I hope that this project will help them cope with any TCK difficulties they may face. After the showcase, I met some great people who could relate to being a global citizen/multi-cultural/cross-cultural individual and dealing with the same or similar problems that most TCKs face.


Here are the pictures by awesome dance photographer, William Hebert:

















The past couple weeks in rehearsal, I've spent working with each individual dancer on their respective solos. Their solo material is created collaboratively between choreographer (me) and the dancer. I had each dancer come up with a prose or poem about a favorite memory they have and then I had them extract specific words out of the original. The original movement phrases were created from those words. I gave specific movement ideas to each individual dancer based on their phrases to formulate a truly individual story that is unique to the dancer. The finishing touch will be interviewing each dancer and juxtaposing their words to their solo.

I hand-picked each dancer not just based on technical ability, I picked each dancer because of her background story. Her cultural upbringing, her personality, her openness to learning about other cultures. It was important to me to have dancers that can relate to the project and invest their time in rehearsal. (Dancers if you're reading this, THANK YOU! You inspire me!) They come from a variety of cultural backgrounds (more on this later...) and it is stunning to see this cultural exchange in rehearsal every week. :-)

Photography by Wazha Dube

TCK Wazha Dube submitted a series of photographs for this project. Take a look at the sampling below.

All photographs & descriptions are copyright of Wazha Dube


1. Act of God

I wouldn't say I'm a religious person, if anything i'm spiritual. We often spend our lives running around from one pace to the next with few opportunities to stop and 'smell the roses'. When I'm able to capture pictures like this it's hard not to believe in something greater than yourself and even harder to not to stop appreciate the beauty of the world that we live in.

Location: Kane'ohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i







2. Empire State of Mind

I've had the opportunity to live in a series of different countries in everything from a urban to rural area and everything in between. Some say that if you can make it in New York City, you can make it anywhere. Some also say that New York City is the ultimate TCK city... For many TCKs, life is a constant search for somewhere were we can be comfortable without thinking about our moving average, for me NYC is one of those places.

Location: New York, New York







3. Forward into the Unknown

For most of us, we have little to no control over the first eighteen years of our lives. We are often giving a destination and then we're sent into somewhere in the world that can be so foreign from what we're used to it almost feels like another planet. This photo represents the fact that we are so often en-route to the unknown that after a while you just start going with the flow. Just like the river, life is always changing and you won't know where you're actually headed until can actually see the end destination, but even when you get there, it's not the destination that matters but the journey itself.

Location: Yangtze River, China







4. No matter where you go, don't ever forget where you're from...

We spend our lives hopping from one place to the other, adopting more cultures and and histories of countries that we are not part of. So often do we see the beauty of other countries that we sometimes forget what makes the places we actually come from so amazing.

Location: Chobe Game Reserve, Botswana







5. Celebrate Originality

As TCKs, our lifestyles allow us to get along with anybody, whether TCK or Non-TCK. Nevertheless, even with our own TCK peers, we all come from different places, with different backgrounds and different stories. The fact that no one has a life that is an exact copy of our own is always something to be proud of, so it's only natural to be proud of not only our heritage and background but also everything that makes us so different.

Location: Beijing, China

SAVE THE DATES!

A.H. Dance Company will be performing at the 60x60 Festival at the World Financial Center on Nov. 13, 2009 at 12 pm and 7 pm. 60 choreographers & 60 composers are paired at random for 60 seconds of collaboration.

Holiday Fundraiser for this project will be at Stone Creek Bar & Lounge on Dec. 5th, 2009 from 7-10:30 pm. There will be amazing raffle prizes. More details coming up soon!

Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) conference in New York City. A.H. Dance Company will be doing a short segment of this project (Dance & film) at Dance New Amsterdam on Jan. 8, 2010 from 9-9:30 pm

A.H. Dance Company & University Settlement will present this project on May 13-15, 2010.
More details will be added at a later date.

Enjoy the pictures from our performance at the Long Island Pirate Festival in September 2009!

Photography is copyright of Di Zhang (http://www.dizhangphoto.com)

Photography by Rob Oandasan

I received the following pictures (Amazing!) and titles/captions from TCK photographer Rob Oandasan to be included in my Families in Global Transitions proposal and TCK/CCK multi-arts production next Spring 2010. Enjoy!
- Alaine

1. There is always someone less fortunate than you.
As TCK's, we sometimes we forget we are the fortunate ones. We might get lost in our personal problems, but we just have to remind ourselves that there's always someone less fortunate than us.
Picture: A makeshift home on a boat on Pasig River in Manila, Philippines.
















2. Don't be picky with what you eat.
I used to be a picky eater. I quickly realized how much I would have missed out on if I continued to be a picky eater. The world offers so many delectable dishes - be adventurous and keep trying on new things to eat!
Picture: Sashimi at the famous Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo Japan. It was so fresh, the fish head was still moving.


















3. The world is a beautiful place we need to preserve.
I have been fortunate enough to be able to travel to many beautiful and pristine locations. Being a city dweller all my life, the difference between places that are man-made and those that miraculously remain untouched for me is more pronounced.
Picture: White sand beaches in Boracay, Philippines.


















4. Respect other cultures, in all its aspects.
We are all taught to tolerate people who are different from us. But to actually go through the culture shock and learn how to live with these differences makes you learn this lesson in a more personal way.
Picture: Different bathroom settings in Singapore.























5. Slow down and enjoy the view.
TCK's daily lives can be very hectic. With so many different things to keep track of, we can often forget how important to is to take a breath and just enjoy the view.
Picture: Ice Skating in Central Park, New York City.



















6. Look at the bigger picture/Keep an open mind.
It is sometimes easier and cognitively more convenient to look at things through one view. Our experiences as TCKs force us to look at some things from a broader perspective.
Picture: A view of a couple of churches through a hole in the wall at the Emperor's Palace in Rome, Italy.