A Conversation with Stacy Ann Chin
Stacy Ann Chin is cuddled comfortably on a chair with one leg hanging loosely over the arm rest. On her changed hair color she says, “It’s a part of jarring the self into living you know, to stay present you have to keep jarring yourself,” she reiterates. “I think my natural hair was a signal to anyone looking on that I was alright with who I was,” says Chin who conveys a confidence in speech and appearance that is bold and consistent.
The bright blocks of a red-orange color, in honor of her 40th birthday, isn’t the only bold think about her. “[My confidence] culminated in my having the freedom and the commitment to having a kid on my own,” she states.
Chin is charmingly respectful when referring to Africa, “I speak as an outsider when I speak of Africa but I also speak knowing that some portion of the blood that runs through me began here. And maybe I don’t hold all of Africa in my hair and in my skin and in my mouth, but I want to make sure that I hold all of Africa in my hand, and in my pen in my voice,” she says poetically.
Her autobiography, “The Other Side of Paradise”, tells of abuse and abandonment in Jamaica and of learning to be resilient. It also tells of her experiences as a lesbian. “I would encourage the LGBTI community in Kenya to find the community around them and nurture [it],” she says.
Chin is currently working on a book about motherhood, “I don’t think I have the smarts or the talent for fiction, y’know, I write what I know, what I’ve lived through,” says Chin candidly.
Her speech, like her hair, is bold, ” I understand why people need religion but it’s not for me, y’know, and maybe two years from now I’ll be telling you all about Jesus Christ and saving my soul or some s*** like that,” she says.
The outspoken activist has this to say on people misinterpreting her utterances, “The fear of it can’t be more important than the intent to say the thing you wish,” she says simply. Articulate and unapologetic, Chin comes across as someone who just wants to be acknowledged for: “Always trying [and]making room for other people to be more of the self they found authentic. (Pause). You know, if I had a lot of money I would just create this big center, where people could just be man,” she says.
Stacy Ann Chin performed at the Southern Sun Mayfair Hotel, courtesy of the NEST, in February 2013. For more info, on her return to Kenya, contact: +254 (0)20 263 4427 or log on to, www.becauseartislife.org
