Caelestis
And of all things millennial.
Welcome to the Year of the Rooster, or Generation X, Y, or Z even. Sure enough that this year’s resolutions are bound to have been broken for we are four weeks into the New Year. I’m just about on time, if not a day late, ready for the Chinese Lunar New Year.
It has taken me a full 48 hours and one episode of ‘How To Get Away With Murder’ to recover from the aftermath of nine exams. So it’s good to be back.
I’d dedicate this post to more unnecessary resolutions and to sum up that 2016 was ‘definitely a year of realising things’, but my interest in labelling periods of time to a subsequent standard on a 0-10 scale has more or less dissolved. In short, the most heart-crushing and eye-opening experiences over the year have certainly been lessons to learn and to love. And even in my earnest avoidance of speaking on the abstract, I guess things really have its way of figuring themselves and life really does go on.
With its tough climbs and downfalls, one lesson I’ve taken away from the past year is that this generation is one in which should not be tightly constrained, nor bound by our very problems of our society. Whether sexist, racist nor just plain outright rude, life shouldn’t really be restrained by the opinions of the others. Luxury, least in the 21st Century, should not merely freedom of speech. But one that promotes freedom of expression, to live without fear, and to act with good reason.
Which is why in the better running of society, the only real short-cut exit solution, or route to survival even, would be advocating for the resolution of disputes. Real generation advancements cannot possibly come in the form of loud protests nor ignorant silence. Rather, it takes a team – health, education, family, friends. As with age, people are supposed to be nicer and be less conflicting.
In the inevitable and natural evolutions of life, the conversation of millennials, if I could even spell such a word correctly, is very much politically relevant in today’s dialogue.
And meanwhile it may seem almost too obvious to repeat, philanthropy is not limited to travelling to support third-world countries; though most definitely not to shun down inexperienced entrepreneurs with new-form technology and unintelligible sources. If anything, our generation calls for more creative solutions.
We’re all learning and trying anyways.
There’s a lot of stigma and emotional ignorance around the inevitable. But what is done, is done. And to lift off some emotional weight, some things may simply be destined. We’ve become a generation that are too good at pointing fingers before hearing the full story.
So to sum it all up, this project I recently shot for Caelestis Charity Fashion Show in support of International Care Ministries is a small step towards a better generation. It was a very natural collaboration for a great cause, shot between my exams and coursework deadlines.
Here’s to taking a first step.
See more photos at Caelestis
photography & Words / Jocelyn yih
Models / Carlotta Traverso, Finn Luke, Alex Modesti, Rajena Limbu
Make-up artist / Jenny Daswani
Wardrobe / the purple fashion club
with thanks to / phoebe, jasmine, ariana, karen, annette, rachelle