Two Nests: Love from Both
It has been reported that one in seven children in Canada experiences the separation or divorce of their parents*. Within this context, the idea of co-parenting is increasingly recognised as a supportive approach to raising children after separation. In many Asian contexts, however, separation continues to be perceived primarily in negative terms, carrying stigma and silence rather than open dialogue.
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Two Nests has been recognised as the first creative work in the Sinophone community to focus on the lived experiences of divorced parents navigating the realities of co-parenting. The work was framed within a broader social landscape in which the concept of child-focused co-parenting remains relatively new in Chinese-speaking regions. In both Hong Kong and Taiwan, resources in the social service sector have largely been directed toward counselling services or awareness campaigns, while art has seldom been used as a medium for engagement.
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Genre/
Non-fictional writing
Role/
Research Interview
Writer
Year/
2018
Through a series of in-depth interviews, Cheng approached the project in the form of a documentary novel. Using the methods of non-fiction writing, the voices of parents and children were transcribed, reshaped, and carried into text. Their words, sometimes fragmented, sometimes hesitant, were transformed into narrative form, allowing the inner worlds of those who had lived through separation to be preserved.
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This literary process was not intended as representation alone, but as a practice of socially engaged art, an act of accompaniment. By listening, recording, and translating lived experience into artistic form, Cheng created a space in which families felt their voices had been heard and carried forward. In this way, writing became a vessel, holding emotions that might otherwise remain unspoken, and presenting them to the public with care and resonance.
*Results from the 2019 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth