Heart shaped hole

I write.

And carry with me, a heart shaped hole in my chest.

Il pleure dans mon coeur

Il pleure dans mon coeur
Comme il pleut sur la ville.
Quelle est cette langueur
Qui pénêtre mon coeur? 

O bruit doux de la pluie
Par terre et sur les toits! 
Pour un coeur qui s’ennuie, 
O le chant de la pluie! 

Il pleure sans raison
Dans ce coeur qui s’écoeure.
Quoi! nulle trahison? 
Ce deuil est sans raison.

C’est bien la pire peine
De ne savoir pourquoi, 
Sans amour et sans haine, 
Mon coeur a tant de peine

 - Paul Verlaine

 

 

 

Brick by brick

Mtsiliza, Malawi – E & K orphanage school

Calloused hands and rudimentary shovels dig the latrines and foundations so people have a place to learn their ABCs. Basic needs. Brick by brick.

 

 

 

Mtsiliza nightfall

“Make it home by nightfall” he says. We are escorted through the fading light. 9pm curfew hounds our steps. The neighbourhood watch is unforgiving apparently…. They guard against the crime of ‘vagabonding’ and enforce it with wooden planks stuck through with rusty nails. 

Mtsiliza, Malawi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crocs ensemble

 

Mtsiliza, Malawi – E & K Orphanage School

Possibly the coolest crocs ensemble i’ve ever seen… and I swear that hem is Missoni.

The Warm Heart

Mtsiliza, Malawi – aka “the warm heart of Africa”, with good reason.

Day 1 working at the E&K orphanage school. Mosquito nets, bucket showers, cool nights, warm days and the red, red earth. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Date with the night

I got a date with the night burnin down my finger
Gonna catch the kids dry gonna walk on water
Buying out the fight we’re sweatin in the winter
Both Thighs squeeze tight

 - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

 

© Ling Ang

 

© Ling Ang

 

© Ling Ang

 

© Ling Ang

Favourite films

A reel from one of my favourite films… as yet unmade and only in my head. A favourite nonetheless.

Oahu, Hawaii – When we were young.

circa May ‘09

Occasionally, I clutch weakly at the straws of photography to remind myself that some memories are real, alive, breathing… that I was there once, with the sand between my toes and the laughter bubbling up through the saltiness and the sun.

The fresh fragrance of friendships being forged and old ones blossoming anew.

The magic of the Aina.

It was a blur of singing inappropriately, waimea, union bar, poetry, floating face-up in the ocean at sundown, cuddles on a grassy knoll, shore breaks, turkey sandwiches, taro patches, needles and ink, terribly ridiculous conversations, a late night run to Like Like and an even later call back to the beach before bed… two hours of sleep and a rather sad ride to the airport..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He learns love

Sembawang, Singapore – Back to The Heartland

I go back to Singapore and pay a visit. Ah Ching’s baby cousin grows a year older. He discovers words like “kiss” and “outside”. Ah Ching still lays immobile and ridden to the floor.