As a mother of a two year old I find myself reflecting on my own life and wondering what my daughter's life will be like as she grows into a young woman. Already her struggles are the same as mine: to find her won voice, to seek self representation and self empowerment and to create meaning from her experiences.
Over the past ten years I have worked with many women. We have planned such cultural events as well as organized protests around issues such as anti-racism, feminism and queer politics. We would work intensively on a project but generally there was little opportunity to find out about one another's histories and how we came to this work. For "Five Aunties" I talk to five Asian women artist/activists from Toronto of my generation. Min Sook Lee, Laura Coramai, Susanda Yee, Melanya Aguilar, and Kyo MacLear have been peers and role models to me. Through their stories we get a sense of their subjective understandings of their life histories. Through their personal and political trajectories we begin to see the driving principles that underlie their work and life views.