■ ◆ Transient Solidarity


co-edited with Chong Gu for Paprika! Volume 8, Issue 03 (2022)
and planned a launch party with performances by Mizu and Antonius Bui (2022)



Capitalist culture requires transient bodies, managed by and for a never ending flow of consumption. Our bodies in repose are remiss. So, we are constantly heading somewhere, anywhere, unable to take a breath—to feel our bodies, to care for one another. Our increasing precarity cannot be nourished by individualism—which has perpetuated regimes of violence and circadian trauma. Rather, we must rehearse communal acts of solidarity through questioning the state, sharing space, re-distributing resources, expanding agency…

If we consider transient space as an underlying experience of our community, we can recognize our collective vulnerability against those who permanently hold power in space—and understand why transient solidarity is essential.

This issue of Paprika!, “Transient Solidarity,” is a toolkit for practicing solidarity in transient spaces.



Questioning the State

Why do they keep us apart?
Donavan Caver interviewed by Alex Kim

Where do we go then?
Eloise Hess. Visibility and Solidarity between the Housed and Unhoused in Los Angeles

How do we contextualize reciprocity?
George Papam. Not To Be Unpleasant, But We Need To Talk About The Travel Week

When do you feel it too?
Ye Sheng. No History Is Ever Lost



Sharing Space

Friendship sustained in the ephemeral
McKenzie Wark interviewed by M.C. Overholt

Community solidified in the transitory
Carlos Blanco. En-Route Sentiment

Connection traversed beyond the frame
Sara Mortazavi. The light of God



Re-distributing Resources

Healing communities in stigma
Lisa interviewed by Red Canary Song

Aggregating a long-term coalition
Page Comeaux. How to Let a Good Crisis Go to Waste



Expanding Agency

Cook family recipes. Cook together.
Naseema Gilson interviewed by Samar Halloum

Call and ask, how are you? Answer with intimacy.
Sarah Kim. Emergency Contact

Hold hands.
Taesha Aurora. A Lovenote to Henna

Sister each other.
Cynthia Deng and Elif Erez. Sistered Beams and Other Sisterings: A Partial Ongoing Glossary

Grow alternative economies.
Livy Li. An Oral History of the Women of One Chinatown