photo by janice karam chung.
she/they
is a writer and editor from queens, ny, presently based in the hudson valley (unceded lands of the Esopus peoples of Lenapehoking).
they are the current and founding editor of The Amp at Asian American Arts Alliance, as well as the editor of Artlab Editorial. she is also the managing editor for The Other Almanac. their writing covers art, ecology, and asian diaspora.
previously, she worked as an associate editor for Artsy covering news and the art market. they also worked at the PR firm, Cultural Counsel and co-founded the experimental environmental journalism platform, Silica Mag.
in a previous life, they played in a band called Teen Body. on occasion, she cooks food for people.
work status:
closed for freelance assignments
︎ cv
︎ shannyown@gmail.com
︎ newsletter signup
photo by janice karam chung.
she/they
is a writer and editor currently based in kingston, new york (unceded lands of the Esopus peoples of Lenapehoking). they are the current and founding editor of The Amp at Asian American Arts Alliance, as well as the editor of Artlab Editorial. she is also the managing editor for The Other Almanac. their writing covers art, ecology, and asian diaspora. in particular, she is interested in cultural practices that reframe/reclaim our relationship to nature.
they are a co-founder of the experimental environmental journalism platform, Silica Mag and used to play in a band called Teen Body. she also cooks sometimes.
work status:
closed for freelance assignments
︎ shannyown@gmail.com
︎ newsletter signup
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club mugwort
(summer 2021)
a pop-up event in collaboration with jessandra london at le jardin, a community garden in bed-stuy, brooklyn celebrating the sprawling mythological, ecological, and cultural tendrils of the mugwort plant.
my fascination with mugwort was inspired by childhood memories of foraging the tender shoots with my 할머니 (grandma) in nyc’s parks. i thought of how funny it must’ve been for her to first encounter mugwort here in the states—to have travelled to the other side of the world and be greeted by the very same 쑥 (mugwort) that filled the summer landscapes of her childhood.
i served mugwort icecream with mugwort 인절미 (ricecakes covered in soy bean powder) and jessandra hosted a mugwort dye workshop.
i also made a zine!
(spring 2024)
i was invited by candace thompson of c.u.r.b. and the wonderful folks at the bronx river foodway to host another version of club mugwort for their spring equinox celebration. this time around, participants had access to the fledgeling mugwort shoots growing in abundance throughout the foodway—an edible forest of mostly native flora piloted by the nyc parks department.
participants were taught how to identify and safely forage mugwort. gathered shoots were collected in a very big bowl to be rinsed before getting rubbed together with sweet rice flour, sugar, and salt and steamed into 쑥버물 (ssuk-beomul). (photos by aminah al huqail).
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budae jjigae
goshen green farm dinner (2022)
a pop-up farm-to-table korean dinner hosted by goshen green farm in goshen, ny.
menu included assorted jeon stuffed with tofu, watermelon water kimchi, napa cabbage kimchi, doenjang jjigae, fire-grilled smallhold soy-marinated mushrooms, galbi, and sujeonghwa granita. (photos by grace hatfield).
