Hyphen magazine - Asian American arts, culture, and politics

My dad (fourth from right), Victoria Park, Hong Kong, 1960s

In recent years, I've revisited our family photo albums and have become fascinated with old photographs of my parents. They're some of my most favorite objects now. It goes without saying, we have never known our parents before they were parents. Looking at the photos, we see how they were, perhaps before they had met each other and before we were even a twinkle in their eye. They look so innocent, so fresh-faced! My dad had wavy hair! My mom wore bikinis! It adds a completely new dimension of relatability. Yes, it's true, our parents used to be YOUNG ADULTS.

For me, these photos are a rare glimpse at their life before family. They don't talk about those days much and I don't think I've ever seen old video footage of my parents. With the hyper-documentation and sharing going on these days, I doubt our kids will have anything left to wonder about us.

The Hyphen staff shared the following collection of photographs of their parents, aunties & uncles, grandparents, and even great-grandparents. Some photos were taken in America and some before immigrating. If you have photos of your parents you'd like to share, we'd love to see them! Please e-mail a jpg to hyphen.photo@gmail.com for a follow-up blog posting.

Enjoy these treasures!

Creative Director Erica's mom, Taiwan, 1966

Events Director Lanlian's pa, Tahoe, 1970s

Lanlian's grandpa and aunts

Managing Editor Lisa Macabasco's po po, Texas, 1940s

Erica's dad (the smoker), Yokohama, Japan, 1956

Blog Editor erin's dad, Viet Nam, 1963



Blogger Catherine's mom (bottom right), Bicol province, Philippines, mid-70s



Copy Editor Elizabeth's great grandmother (the bag lady), Niigata, Japan, 1950s

Streetteamer Shari's grandma, Sri Lanka, 1940s

Lanlian's dad and aunts and uncles