From the Editor

While lying alone on a beach back home, a thought crossed my mind. "If I died right now, everything leading up to this moment would be given weight. The lines around objects would sharpen, words spoken to me earlier would replay with a profound cadence. Past glances would be elongated, the relationships I’ve built would slot into place—no more doubt about the correctness, the beauty of it all." The beauty of life suddenly, knowingly, zapped out of existence would be almost too much to take.

It’s funny, I thought, how this meaningless moment will pass just like any other but in the right context, shoved up right beside death, it can mean everything. Life is simultaneously lightness and weight—it is what we make of it.

I want to thank all of our contributing artists for showing us what they make of their lives, for allowing their personal stories to be crystallised in this issue, wrinkle-free, as life passes by us in a blur. I hope you enjoy indulging in each of their pieces as much as I’ve enjoyed watching closely as they gently bloom to life.

Shir Ariya

Editor