The smell of rust and decay wafts through the air. Dust clings to your shoes as you make your way through the debris. sinθ #34 “WASTELAND 荒” rises, bursting with art, poetry, fiction, and conversation. Wade through ruins of the past and present. Contemplate what the future will or should look like.

In the issue:
— Senior Editor Yue Chen chats with Madeleine Thien about Thien’s forthcoming novel The Book of Records and cultural histories, memories, and the artist’s responsibility to protest.
— Editor-in-chief Jiaqi Kang sits down with Chinese Artists and Organizers (CAO) Collective 离离草 co-directors huiyin zhou and Laura Du. They discuss art as a form of political organizing, the personal legacies of interconnectedness, and centering creative practices around rituals of care.
— For our student spotlight, Junior Editor Erika Jing chats with JESS HUAN HU about their attention to colors and understanding the world and lived experiences through art-making.
— Digital artwork from Staff Contributor Juliette J Wu conjures urban abundance with intricate textures and stark lines.
— Starr Jiang’s “Migrant Matter” captures rhythms of loneliness and strength; Yan Jiang’s “Self Portrait” evokes a whirl of gouache landscapes.
— Yuyang (Lily) Wei’s oil paintings “Flavours of Exile” and “Study of Tapirs” play with perspectives and the interconnection between animals and urban living.
— Naomi Maya Leung infuses cyanotype photography with personal lineage and rites of connection.
— New poetry by Katherine Oung and Lydia Wei evokes ghosts and AI girlfriends; moving poems by Chrystal Ho and Jack Xi speak to ecological devastation.
— “代臆 I Wrote Not From Muroday to Warnight” by Cela Xie and “神主牌 (Spirit Tablet)” by Alan Tran deftly entwine poetic form with content.
— Cat Wei’s poems “Catalog of Oceanic Desire” and “At Last It Was Just Us” burst with vivid imagery.
— Short fiction by Vic Xu explores the push and pull between nature and urbanization.
Cover by Yan Jiang.