Between Borders

What is home? What does home mean when you belong to more than one place?

 

I grew up in between cultures. My parents migrated from China to the Philippines where I was born and raised. This led me to have a convoluted childhood. I looked Chinese, yet I also spoke both Tagalog and English fluently, often went to fiestas and celebrated Christmas as early as September, and even incorporated Filipino cuisine into daily life. I wasn't truly Filipino because of my Chinese heritage, yet I wasn't truly Chinese either because of the Filipino culture that had shaped me. Over time, I began to wonder whether home was a place at all. I carried pieces of each culture with me, yet often felt like an outsider to the traditions that were supposed to be mine.

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I came to realize that this feeling was not unique. For immigrants, third culture kids, and others living between cultures, home can be difficult to define. Between Borders is a digital archive created to explore that in-between space and to remind those who inhabit it that they are not alone.

 

This archive asks what it means to belong through the stories we inherit, the languages we cannot fully translate, the food that carries memory, the objects we keep. So, explore the archive. Find what it means to live between places, carry more than one culture, and make a home somewhere in between. 

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Feel free to email rachellezhang09@gmail for any comments, questions, or concerns. 

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*This archive is best explored using a desktop or a tablet* :)