RECESS is a practice of proximity. it’s putting on the courage to welcome uncertainty when hardwired rhythms don’t work anymore. play opens us – to vulnerability, to difference, to possibility.
it’s choosing to sit across from someone new.
to try something unfamiliar.
to make something with your hands.
to laugh without needing a reason.
come play with us at GAME NIGHT on thursday, march 19th at @portraitcoffee RSVP link in bio 🔗
thank you @deasia_paige for using your pen to shine a light on the women DJs who have helped shaped the nightlife scene in Atlanta. there were the ones that paved the way before us, and there are so many more of us now than when i started DJing in 2014. over a decade later, it truly means so much to witness the growth of this city!
photos by @cutrerphoto
illustration by @8rolysu
these past several years post-pandemic have shifted something in all of us. we’re living in a time of censorship, state violence, political unrest, a constant hum of division and disorder. for a while, that weight has felt overwhelming. i carried it quietly, a lump in my throat from holding too much in. if i’m being honest, there’s a quiet dread beneath it all, a fear of being forced out of a place i’ve called home for years. i live here, but i don’t belong to this country on paper. as an immigrant, the search for rootedness has been a lifelong unfolding. i keep coming across versions of myself that are constantly learning how to belong without fully letting go.
lately, this version of me has felt the urge to say the quiet part out loud. because nothing is apolitical, and art does not exist without consequence. club culture is political. filmmaking is political. wellness is political. i am a woman, and i am an immigrant. my very existence in America is political. and still, i’ve lived my life without asking anyone for permission.
my understanding of rootedness has begun to shift. it stopped being about permanence and started becoming something i actively create. it’s in the relationships i nurture, the rituals i build for myself, the ways we make meaning out of displacement. so i’m learning to stay. not just physically, but within myself. to hold on to joy without apologizing for it, to reach for hope through the uncertainty, to gather courage in the moments i feel myself shrinking. because belonging is not found, it is made. and in creating it, we discover that home is not a place, but a practice.
our hearts are full. thank you to everyone who came out to our first ever RECESS gathering! we’re just getting started, more play dates on the way so stay locked in.
what is GOMOKU? the game of Go (called weiqi) and the Go board originated in China over 2,500 years ago, making it one of the oldest board games still played today. the game emphasizes long-term strategy, balance, and territory control. Go reached Japan around the 7th century. Gomoku (五目並べ meaning “five in a row”) was invented by the Japanese as a casual, fast-paced alternative to Go. unlike Go, it was not tied to elite culture–it was more of a folk and recreational game. the goal is simple: get five in a row (horizontal, vertical, diagonal). today, Gomoku is played all around the world. It’s called omok (오목) in Korea, cờ caro in Vietnam, and wuziqi (五子棋) in China.
we love it because it pairs well with chess but delivers more dopamine hits per minute for those looking quicker rounds of play. not to mention it goes hard with Wu Tang in the background. come play Gomoku at GAME NIGHT this thursday!
⚫️⚪️ photos by @duepinlac
