The McMaster Museum of Art is hosting a workshop to teach the basics of mini zine making and trading art
For this year's Thrive Week, the McMaster Museum of Art is hosting a mini zine-making workshop. The workshop will be hosted on January 23 from 12 to 1 p.m.
Thrive Week is being held from January 22 to 26, and it is being managed by the McMaster Okanagan Office of Health and Mental Well-being. Its purpose is to bring the university community together to discuss mental health and find ways to support each other. Different areas of campus will be holding events throughout the week for students, alumni, staff and faculty.
Past Thrive Week events have included a therapy dog visit, a guided forest walk, a farm visit and a kind thoughts box.
The event will cover the basics of making mini zines while allowing participants to practice their own unique artistic style. You can also learn about trading your creations and the artistic process of zines in general. The workshop will also have a tour of the museum's exhibition Chasm.
The workshop is free to attend and includes free access to zine-making materials. To attend, you have to register online. Spots are limited!
Students should check out the upcoming event if they are interested in creating art or zines, learning more about different artistic forms or taking a break from studies to do something fun. Students should also keep an eye out for other Thrive Week events, especially if they are looking for ways to prioritize their mental health during the busy start to the semester. The full listing of Thrive Week events can be found here.
The Mapleside Musuem of Miniature Art supports local artists’ work by showcasing tiny zines with their unique perspectives on life
The Mapleside Museum of Miniature Art is a tiny art gallery located on Mapleside Avenue. The gallery operates on the same principles as a Little Free Library, where people are able to take and leave behind a book in little stands around neighbourhoods. In this case, art is displayed in the gallery and people are able to leave behind work, take some home or simply just take a quick look around.
Matt Coleman, founder of MMOMA, is a local high school art teacher with the Halton District School Board. As a Hamilton native, Coleman started the MMOMA during the pandemic as a way to facilitate connections within the community using art.
On Mar. 4, the MMOMA opened its first-ever miniature zine show where people are able to look at tiny-sized magazines created by artists. Zines are unpublished publications made by artists for the purpose of highlighting personal opinions and perspectives. They are self-published by the creator and are often less formal in nature.
Coleman was inspired to create a zine show by the zine symposium organized by the Zine Club at Hamilton Central Branch library. Coleman thought the event was a fun way to share zines and art with others and promote a sense of community.
“The ultimate purpose [of the zine show] is to build community and have a moment of connection to other creators and other artists . . . [To] read these little zines and take one with you [to] brighten your day [is] a small but important goal,” he explained.
“The ultimate purpose [of the zine show] is to build community and have a moment of connection to other creators and other artists . . . [To] read these little zines and take one with you [to] brighten your day [is] a small but important goal."
Matt Coleman, founder of MMOMA
The miniature zines showcased through MMOMA includes work done by Coleman’s high school students as well as contributions from the local community and beyond. Visitors to the MMOMA can drop off any zine they create while also taking a copy of someone else’s zine home with them.
What makes MMOMA’s zine show stand out from other zine symposiums is the miniature nature of the size of the art and the personal content expressed in them.
“The unique part of [the MMOMA zine show] is the diminutive stature of the scenes. We're going to put up with the display of all the miniature scenes that people have started to drop off,” said Coleman.
Already, the zine show has received wide geographic interest, with international artists mailing in their pieces to Coleman.
“I've been communicating with a few people in California; someone else in in Brussels, Belgium, wants to participate [and] someone else in Korea,” Coleman stated.
Coleman encourages people to check out the show as a fun, interactive way to look at the various experiences and forms of expression. It is a new way to learn about unique perspectives and share art.
The zines can also be a good way to support the artistic side of Hamilton and hear people’s opinions and views on life.
C/O @unshelteredthezine
“UNSHELTERED”: the zine shares the experiences of unhoused women and gender diverse folks
Homelessness across Canada became more widespread and visible during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, visible homelessness mostly describes homeless men. For unhoused women and gender-diverse folks, homelessness remains a largely hidden issue. With a lack of safe, adequate and appropriate shelters dedicated to these folks, they are more likely to avoid shelters, couch surf and remain in unsafe and/or abusive situations to access shelter.
Witnessing this unfortunate reality has inspired Samm Floren, a student in McMaster University’s post-degree bachelor of social work program, to bring to the limelight the experiences of homeless women and gender-diverse folks through the launch of her community project, “UNSHELTERED”: the zine. UNSHELTERED is a community art project aimed to sharing the stories of chronically unhoused women and gender-diverse folks who don’t access the shelter system in Hamilton for reasons including, but not limited to, restrictive service and shelter rules, being labelled as Do Not Admit or fear of discharge due to their mental health crisis, substance use or possession of harm reduction gear.
The zine’s goals are to instill creativity, provide a safe space for unhoused folks to voice experiences and raise public and institutional awareness of what it is like to live outside of the Hamilton shelter system. The first issue of the zine can be accessed through a Google Drive link and a physical printed copy can be found at Centre[3], Girl on the Wing, Handknit Yarn Studio and Partizanka Press, or requested via UNSHELTERED’s Instagram page on a pay-as-you-can basis.
To gather contributors, Floren, along with two other social work students, Stephanie Milliken and Alannah Maye, would reach out to those sleeping on the streets or living in encampments who were accessing drop-in spaces and programs at the YMCA and Mission Services in Hamilton. Mission Services has been especially helpful in providing her with contacts to folks with a history of being denied or unable to access shelters.
Those who agreed to contribute their artwork to the zine were provided a consent form and asked to express their experiences of being unhoused in Hamilton. After finishing their pieces, they were interviewed to describe what their pieces are about and to share their story. Their descriptions and experiences were included in the zine along with their artwork. All participating folks were remunerated with an honorarium consisting of a $30 gift card to Dollarama or Tim Hortons, art supplies and harm reduction kits.
The idea for the zine came about while Floren was working as a frontline shelter worker at a low-barrier program during January and February of this year. Seeing folks who were constantly being denied access to adequate housing, reading about homeless encampments, working the shelter system and not seeing any changes made to better support unhoused women and gender diverse folks motivated her to create a platform through which they could tell their stories to the larger community.
“[Folks] would become so frustrated and a lot of the time what they would say is, ‘I’m going to die out here on the streets.’ So that’s where the inspiration came from. But I think it’s important to note that folks have been telling their stories this entire time and UNSHELTERED is just a tool to do that,” explained Floren.
“[Folks] would become so frustrated and a lot of the time what they would say is, ‘I’m going to die out here on the streets.’ So that’s where the inspiration came from. But I think it’s important to note that folks have been telling their stories this entire time and UNSHELTERED is just a tool to do that."
Samm Floren, founder of UNSHELTERED
UNSHELTERED was also inspired by Floren’s love for art and her belief in the capacity of art to act as an outlet for self-expression. She had run an arts session a few years ago as part of the Transitional Living Program at the YMCA for unhoused folks and seeing first-hand the fulfillment art could bring to them was one of her favourite moments in the program.
“Just being there, being with folks and doing art, was just fun and I’ve carried that with me. The joy that people get from being able to just create is huge and I think that’s where a lot of [folk’s engagement with art] came from. We don’t have a lot of art supplies, it’s not something that people think of, but it’s something people love and cherish and use,” said Floren.
“Just being there, being with folks and doing art, was just fun and I’ve carried that with me. The joy that people get from being able to just create is huge and I think that’s where a lot of [folk’s engagement with art] came from. We don’t have a lot of art supplies, it’s not something that people think of, but it’s something people love and cherish and use.”
Samm Floren, founder of UNSHELTERED
The first issue of the zine included works from over 20 contributors, but it would not have been possible without strong community support. UNSHELTERED received monetary and supply donations from the community and organizations and lots of help from volunteers and partnerships. McMaster faculty and teaching assistants who were involved include Laurie Sherry-Kirk, Mary Vaccaro, Jennie Vengris and Jennifer Crowson. It was featured on the McMaster Social Work website and professors have been reacting positively to the zine by helping to spread the word and donating gift cards for honoraria.
Supporting organizations of the zine include Keeping Six, Mission Services, YMCA Transitional Living Program and Carole Anne’s Place and CUPE3906. Keeping Six in particular has been a major supporter of the initiative through inviting UNSHELTERED to the Unity Jam concert, which occurred in September. There, Floren was able to promote the zine and host harm reduction information sessions and naloxone training.
So far, Floren’s favourite responses have been from folks who contributed their artworks to the zine. She says it was exciting to see them receive a physical copy of the issue and react with so much positivity.
“I’m still tracking down a few people to give a hard copy of the zine and they were really excited — that was the biggest impact and that’s the goal. We want people to be excited and see other folks read it. So the feedback’s been pretty positive,” said Floren.
Floren wishes for UNSHELTERED to become a long-term initiative while staying true to sharing the stories and artwork of folks who are living outside the Hamilton shelter system. Additionally, she hopes she can organize more art drop-in sessions.
“The goal of UNSHELTERED is the artists and the people who are sharing their story. It’s amazing that it has support, but that’s where the focus needs to stay. What’s important is that UNSHELTERED is just a tool. It’s another way to get things out there and what people need to realize when they read it is that these stories have been there this entire time. Hopefully now they’ll be more willing to open their ears to it and listen if they weren’t before and make an effort to continue to do that,” said Floren.
Here’s hoping that UNSHELTERED is able to not only support those living outside the Hamilton shelter system, but also effect larger, more permanent change in the city and in relation to people’s perceptions of unhoused individuals.
Hamilton-based artist launches a zine distro and micropress to showcase the local work of zinemakers
C/O @partizanka.press
As we go through lockdown after lockdown and can’t physically be together, we seek community in other unusual ways. One way Tara Bursey, a Hamilton-based artist and arts educator, has been bringing communities together is by sharing zines made by zinemakers across Canada and the United States through her recently launched Partizanka Press.
Partizanka Press is an independent zine distro and micropress. The distributor and small publisher has a particular focus on punk, politics, hidden history, social justice, art and music scenes.
Zines, short for magazine or fanzine, are a small-circulation of non-commercially printed, often self-printed, original work. There are no rules to zines. It is a platform for self-expression and a dynamic medium for subcultural or oppressed voices.
Bursey started the zine distro and micropress because she has always had a passion for zines. She created her first zine at the age of 12 and her first zine distro at the age of 17. 20 years later, the launch of Partizanka Press reflects the revitalization of her long-lived passion. It reflects her goal of promoting the community of zinemakers and the power of zines to express underrepresented and diverse ideas.
“For the most part, [zine making] is a very local scene where local people support each other to talk about zines and create work. But from observing the design community in Hamilton, I wondered how much people were looking at some of the incredible and diverse scenes that are being made outside of Hamilton or even outside Ontario,” explained Bursey.
“For the most part, [zine making] is a very local scene where local people support each other to talk about zines and create work. But from observing the design community in Hamilton, I wondered how much people were looking at some of the incredible and diverse scenes that are being made outside of Hamilton or even outside Ontario.”
Tara Bursey
Zines have always functioned as a way to fill the gaps where mainstream publishers and media have failed. For this reason, it was important for Bursey to honour the histories and ideas left out of popular culture as part of this project.
It was also important for Bursey to name the distro and micropress after her grandmother, Partizanka. Her grandmother was a guerrilla fighter during the Greek Civil War, a 19th-century conflict which not many people know about.
“[My grandmother’s] existence and her history reminds me that there are all sorts of histories and ideas that go unknown. So this was an opportunity for me to play a role in helping people’s ideas, histories and identities be honoured,” said Bursey.
“[My grandmother’s] existence and her history reminds me that there are all sorts of histories and ideas that go unknown. So this was an opportunity for me to play a role in helping people’s ideas, histories and identities be honoured,”
Tara bursey
Bursey was most excited to improve the accessibility of zines and allow people to enjoy them during this challenging time as many opportunities to attend zine fairs or markets were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Especially during the lockdowns when people’s normal ways of connection were lost, the intimate and personal touch of zines felt even more special to the community of zinemakers and lovers.
“A zinemaker’s approach to making a zine is very individual from the paper they choose to the ink colours they choose . . . Being able to get [zines] at this time, it just takes on a whole new meaning because of their personal scale,” said Bursey.
“A zinemaker’s approach to making a zine is very individual from the paper they choose to the ink colours they choose . . . Being able to get [zines] at this time, it just takes on a whole new meaning because of their personal scale,”
tara bursey
During Ontario’s stay-at-home order, Bursey also offered free contactless drop-offs of orders to people across the city, further emphasizing the theme of personal connection and intimacy.
Through her work in Partizanka Press, Bursey hopes to inspire and support more zinemakers to publish their work and introduce a larger community to zines.
Sometime in April, she will be publishing her own zine under Partizanka Press, which will also be the first publication under the micropress label. At the Toronto Comic Arts Festival in May, you can expect to see Partizanka Press as part of the festival’s zine fair.
Bursey’s initiative to bring tangible, physical pieces of art, when all we have access to are virtual means of connection and entertainment, offers a refreshing way to experience community.
McMaster University zine aims to showcase art from survivors of sexualized violence
C/O Tim Mossholder
cw: sexual violence
Four McMaster University undergraduate students have launched a zine aimed at showcasing art from survivors of sexual violence and their supporters. It is open to McMaster students and members of the Hamilton community.
The zine is part of an initiative called Colours of Solidarity that started in 2019 for the course HTHSCI 4X03 — Collaboration and Peer Tutoring. In March 2019, the organizers created an interactive survivor art installation. This year the organizers shifted the project’s focus to the zine to accommodate the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
Sexualized violence is a traumatic experience that can have ranging effects on survivors, including physical, psychological and social impacts. It can also affect survivors’ sense of self and identity.
“Our zine’s focus is on survivorship . . . and we're really just hoping to create a space where people are comfortable sharing their experience and talking about whatever it is that they feel is important. [Through the zine], we can try to support them as much as we can, while also letting them have a space where they can just be themselves and reclaim their identity,” explained Zahra Abdullah, a fourth-year health sciences student and member of the Colours of Solidarity team.
“[Through the zine], we can try to support them as much as we can, while also letting them have a space where they can just be themselves and reclaim their identity,”
Zahra Abdullah, member of the Colours of Solidarity team
The zine is now accepting submissions in a range of formats such as poetry, art, writing and photography. The deadline for submissions is to be determined, but will likely be in late March or early April.
The team has also provided some optional prompts for individuals to consider in their contribution.
Colours of Solidarity acknowledged that sexual violence is a large problem that exists institutionally at McMaster and within other postsecondary institutions. The organizers hoped that this zine can provide a safe space for survivors.
“We [hope we] can let people feel like there are others that they can reach out to people who've been through it to create some sort of support,” said Abdullah.
The team also recognized the importance of giving survivors the power to shape their narratives through this zine.
“I think oftentimes in a lot of these [sexualized violence] cases, survivors voices' aren't heard as much as we would like them to and there are often so many other factors that take priority over their own narrative, which should be the most important thing in that situation . . . This zine can serve as a springboard for survivors to talk about their own experiences,” said Sowmithree Ragothaman, member of the Colours of Solidarity team.
". . . survivors voices aren't heard as much as we would like them to and there are often so many other factors that take priority over their own narrative, which should be the most important thing in that situation."
Sowmithree Ragothaman, member of the Colours of Solidarity team
The team hopes that the zine will become an ongoing initiative that can collaborate with other McMaster clubs and organizations to create safer spaces for survivors.
They have collaborated with MSU Women and Gender Equity Network for their Making Waves week campaign. This week-long event hosted survivor-centric events, including a session for attendees to create art for the zine or in general
Submissions for the zine are accepted through a Google form and any questions can be directed to the team directly at solidaritysubmissions@gmail.com.
The MacPherson Institute has launched a new zine exploring barriers of access on campus
C/O LQ from This Insane Life: MadStudents Zine, 2014
The MacPherson Institute, McMaster’s teaching and learning centre, has launched a new zine on disability, accessibility and teaching and learning at McMaster University.
Current and former McMaster students with lived experiences of disability, disablement, inaccessibility and ableism are invited to contribute to the zine to share and voice their experiences. This could include any barriers to access they might have experienced at McMaster or other post-secondary institutions.
Current and former McMaster students with lived experiences of disability, disablement, inaccessibility and ableism are invited to contribute to the zine to share and voice their experiences.
The zine project is being led by disabled students and alumni.
“[The zine] seeks to uncover and document the labour and legacy of these disabled student initiatives and others (individual and collective; formal and informal) we haven’t heard from yet,” as stated on the website.
“The zine takes an arts-based approach to educational pedagogy and seeks to inform educators and faculty about the struggles of students who are or identify as a disabled, neurodivergent or are service users of mental health,” explains Evonne Syed, a third-year undergraduate MacPherson student partner and educational research assistant on the zine team.
The project will hope to acknowledge the need for greater accessibility and disability inclusion in the classroom, within curricula and on-campus. The project also builds on the work of a similar 2014 McMaster zine on Mad student experiences. It will also contribute to commemorations for the 50th anniversary of the MacPherson Institute.
Both individual and group submissions are being accepted in multiple formats, including but not limited to: creative arts such as collage, comics, graphic design, drawing, painting, photography; literary arts like dialogues/interviews, essays, poetry, lyrics, reflections, satire, short fiction, theatre scripts; or other ideas such as lists, recipes, games, etc.
The submission deadline is March 31 and can be submitted through a Google Form. Contributors will be notified about the status of their piece on May 1, with the publication date set for summer 2021.
“Art is [one of the] the most successful modes for expression… there aren't really many guidelines and you have a lot of freedom with what you do and how you express yourself. In that way we can appeal to a wider audience when it comes to talking about disability and accessibility,” emphasized Tanisha Warrier, a second-year biology student on the zine team.
“Art is [one of the] the most successful modes for expression… there aren't really many guidelines and you have a lot of freedom with what you do and how you express yourself. In that way we can appeal to a wider audience when it comes to talking about disability and accessibility"
Tanisha Warrier
Up to 30 current students and alumni from 2011-2020 are eligible to receive a $125 honorarium for any pieces chosen for publication in the zine. Other contributors whose pieces are chosen for publication will be eligible to request an honorarium.
The amount will depend on the project budget and the overall number of accepted submissions. These honoraria are funded by grants from the Arts Research Board at McMaster University as well as the Student Success Centre’s Career Access Professional Services Program.
“Something that I really love about this project is that we are asking the people who are [directly] impacted by these [accessibility] barriers what their experiences are and compensating them for their contributions,“ said Emunah Woolf, a social work placement student on the zine team.
“A lot of times, we either don't ask the people who are impacted and, therefore, don't solve it in a way that actually fixes the issues. We're asking folks from equity-seeking groups how they want equity and then not actually compensating them for that knowledge or that labour,” said Woolf.
The zine will be an open-access publication that will be distributed to students, staff, faculty and campus partners. After the publication, the zine team plans on conducting research to evaluate the engagement and impact of the zine, such as through focus groups and surveys of contributors and readers.
The zine team emphasized the importance of this project in creating a more inclusive space for those with disabilities.
“We need to start having more conversations. Not only within our own friend circles and things like that, but also conversations with higher-ups in academics and larger, more influential people in our faculties to ensure that voices are being heard, and are being taken to a place where change can actually take place,” said Vikita Mehta, a second-year arts and science student on the zine team.
The team also highlighted tangible action that must follow through with the contributions of the zine, especially to make the learning environment more accessible for disabled folks.
The team also highlighted tangible action that must follow through with the contributions of the zine, especially to make the learning environment more accessible for disabled folks.
“With the release of [the zine to] really set the scene, it might also be helpful to educators and [professors] in incorporating a more inclusive educational framework and improve their teaching methods in terms of how they structure their classes, so that it's more accessible for different students [of] different abilities,” said Syed.
“We need to ensure that the playing field level when it comes to school, work and academics [is made so] that everyone has equal opportunity to succeed,” added Warrier.
“We need to ensure that the playing field level when it comes to school, work and academics [is made so] that everyone has equal opportunity to succeed."
Tanisha Warrier
The music video for Ellis’ first single “The Drain” opens with less than a second of television static. That glimpse of static appears several more times throughout the course of the video but it’s more than just a motif for the video, it’s the overarching theme of her debut project, The Fuzz.
[spacer height="20px"]Ellis is the musical project of Hamilton-based singer-songwriter Linnea Siggelkow, who derived the name from her initials. Her sound was once described to her as emo dream pop and this is the label she assigns to it. It is beautiful, dramatic and sad music.
The Fuzz, which dropped on Nov. 9, is a collection of songs that Ellis wrote around the same time. She independently released the six-track project, which includes her first two singles “The Drain” and “What a Mess.” The EP gets it its name from the feelings that Ellis felt while writing the songs.
“[T]he fuzz is… this metaphorical place like the noise on a TV screen. It's just the lack of clarity… a feeling of being lost and a place I found myself in often and... where a lot of the songs came from was feeling sort of disoriented and confused and uncertain in this sort of metaphorical place,” Ellis explained.
On Nov. 28, Ellis will be playing at The Casbah for her EP release show. While performing makes her anxious, one thing she loves about performing in Hamilton is being able to see the familiar faces of her friends and collaborators in the audience.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="164" gal_title="Ellis"]
Not originally from Hamilton, Ellis loves the creative and caring community that she has found in the city. On The Fuzz, she collaborated only with the circle of talented individuals that she feels lucky to call her friends. Being able to trust her collaborators was important in creating this personal project.
In order to share some of the meaning behind her intimate tracks, Ellis created a zine with collaborative partner, Sean Richman. The zine features a spread for each song consisting of photographs, handwritten lyrics and GPS coordinates for significant places.
“I'm trying to create a mood… and I think to me the project is moody. But I also want it to just be beautiful… I love having visual elements. I think it's a great way to connect the listener with music in a different way… I hope it's a way of, if people are interested, going a little bit deeper into the songs themselves,” Ellis explained.
While the personal nature of the project means that it’s hard for Ellis to discuss all the events that inspired the EP’s tracks, she wants listeners to be able to relate to and resonate with the music. For her, making music is a way of processing emotions and using them to create something productive and tangible.
She started playing piano as a child since her mother was a piano teacher. When she was 12 years old, she began playing guitar and writing songs. Song-writing is very much ingrained in who she is.
Her song-writing process begins solitarily, which lends itself to the intimacy of her music. She always begins with a lyric and then builds up the song as much as she can on her own before she brings in her collaborators.
[spacer height="20px"]Ellis was deeply involved in all aspects of The Fuzz. She co-directed the videos for “The Drain” and “NYE” with her friend Andy Friesen.
“I think for this project it's been mostly DIY… I definitely like to have my hands on as many things as I can to do with the project. I feel a bit possessive of it,” Ellis explained.
This homespun approach has created a sound and visuals that feel attentively crafted and beautifully raw. In the new year, Ellis hopes to create a full-length album and tour, allowing her to share her stories of fuzz and freedom with more of the world.
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By: Adrianna Michell
The city of Hamilton is often associated with art, growth and income disparity, and all of these are reflected in the self-publishing scene. Specifically, zines offer local artists, writers and creatives not only a venue for expression, but a community as well.
Zines grew from the basements of outcast punk rockers to the photo clipping scattered floors of underrepresented creatives everywhere.
Self-published works are made and disseminated unprofessionally, and often through friend circles, organizations or through specific shops like record stores and niche bookstores. Zines can cover many themes, but are generally an art form of subversion where artists are able to share ideas not seen in mainstream forms of media.
The artists that live and work with Hamilton use zines to interact with the politics of the city. Unique voices and perspectives outside of what is acceptable on the shelves of bookstores can be freely shared.
Phoebe Taylor
As a Hamilton based OCAD university alum, illustrator and printmaker, Phoebe Taylor uses zines as autobiographical works. Her experience in the world as a woman is the thesis of her self-published material. This comes through as she collects her words and illustrations, and sometimes decorates them with dollar store gemstones.
“I think zines are a form of being pissed off, right?"
“I guess its like hyper-femininity,” Taylor says of the 3D component of her zines, “... that’s just another way of [representing myself]. It’s just like a little piece of me that I’m putting into it.”
“[Self-publishing] for me, it’s definitely making an artwork that is 100 per cent self-serving and something I can share with somebody that isn’t necessarily to represent ... a fully formed idea. ... [It’s] like when you’ve got an itch and you just need to get it out of your system.”
While the personal self-expression of zines is important to Taylor, so is the community that she has built through these creative works. Taylor connects to creators on Instagram and is in touch with the Toronto artist community, but her favourite is the Hamilton Feminist Zine Fair.
The Sexual Assault Centre of Hamilton and Area, a centre that provides services to survivors and community events, organizes the fair each year to showcase marginalized voices. The free event has allowed Taylor to meet zine-makers and local artists as well as readers who resonate with her messages.
“[SACHA’s zine fair is] an environment where everyone is willing to give you a little bit of themselves,” Taylor says. “[It’s] a lot of giving and receiving of love.”
Despite the love that Taylor has experienced at zine fairs, she also realizes the political nature the format.
“I think zines are a form of being pissed off, right? ... I’d be curious in the next few years what people have to say about, you know Hamilton’s LRT. ... I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody’s writing about gentrification of downtown.”
Taylor's website is http://www.phoebetaylor.ca
Amy Egerdeen
After moving to Hamilton in 2013, Amy Egerdeen has found community through self-publishing. As a cofounder of SACHA’s feminist zine fair, she knows the importance of connecting with others in the community over arts-based activities.
Egerdeen is an artist, bookmaker and community worker. Egerdeen works in women’s shelters and youth groups to facilitate self-expression through art. In her zines and other art works, Egerdeen includes themes of “feminism, imagined futures [and] storytelling.”
“I want to focus on creating spaces for people to be involved in their own storytelling.”
Egerdeen likes the passion that goes into zine making. Without the incentive of money or a large audience creators are able to express ideas outside of popular conversations. Zines allow people to talk about things that they have strong feelings about, and topics that may not have a place among the bookstands.
“I love that they exist outside of commercial media, which means you don’t see ads. No one is trying to make you buy something. You can be honest and speak your mind. ... Zines are about freedom.”
Collaboration is important in Egerdeen’s creative process. Through the collaborative zines Egerdeen facilitates in women’s shelters and annually at the HFZF, she is able to use her skills to help others share their stories.
“I want to focus on creating spaces for people to be involved in their own storytelling.”
Collaborative zines are able to gather a variety of lived experiences into one art piece, and therefore are a community building practice. By curating zines that source material from local artists, shelters and youth groups, Egerdeen allows underrepresented groups to come together and share their ideas.
“The zine and politically engaged communities in Hamilton, like most places, have a lot of overlap. Lots of zine makers are also on the front lines of fighting against inequality and injustices.”
Egerdeen's website is http://amyegerdeen.com
Sahra Soudi
“Zines typically have narratives that aren’t shown, and usually those narratives come from marginalized voices, and I think that’s important,” says artist, activist and third year multimedia student Sahra Soudi. Soudi has displayed their narrative-based zines at HFZF and has space at HAVN.
They are currently working on a zine that revolve around themes of uncertainty as well as their personal experiences in Hamilton and regarding oppressions. Their zine is about “overcoming assimilation and then turning that into revolutionary thought.”
While zines provide Soudi an outlet for their ideas, they note that their narrative would not be shown in large bookstores or more mainstream, monetized forms of publication. Soudi connects the tradition of trading zines to the political issue of gentrification.
Soudi looks at “art exchange and art trading as opposed to very capitalist exchange with money, like currency and art, and the importance of that, then comparing that to themes of marginalized struggles.”
“Within my art practices ... [I include] community organizing,” Soudi says. “I seek for communities who do the same work, and I also seek other people who do the same work.” Soudi uses their art works, zines included, as activism.
“Zines typically have narratives that aren’t shown, and usually those narratives come from marginalized voices, and I think that’s important.”
“I guess with zines, I don’t want to say it’s combative, but it is. ... and so it almost always seems appropriate for Hamilton to be a part of [that].”
Jessica Felicity
Jessica Felicity is a Hamilton based artist and community organizer. Currently attending Ryerson University for English, Felicity uses zines as a way to reclaim conversations she has felt excluded from because of her identity as a Black femme.
“You can do whatever you want with a zine. It’s pretty much free space. It lets me have more of a voice.”
Zines allow Felicity to carve out space for herself within the Hamilton arts community, but the medium also allows her to confront the systems that exclude marginalized artists.
“[Zines] combat popular media with different, alternative messages, because you can just make a zine by yourself.”
Regardless of how politicized or personal her zines are Felicity always bases her work in real experience.
“The foundation is truth. You need the truth, not filtered, edited versions. I think with zines also it doesn’t have to be curated through an oppressive lense. It’s more free, like everyone’s true and messy selves.”
“You can do whatever you want with a zine. It’s pretty much free space. It lets me have more of a voice.”
Dr. Emily Bennett N.D.
Dr. Emily Bennett is a naturopathic doctor and birth doula that runs a community wellness centre on the west side of Hamilton. Ever since the wellness centre, Island Island, opened its doors, it has had zines displayed in the waiting room in place of traditional magazines. With poetry and illustration replacing fad diets and home décor, Bennett has given a space for zines to be presented to an otherwise unwitting audience.
“I wanted [to] offer a variety of reading material on topics that wouldn’t normally be covered in journals or magazines. Things that are a bit more niche, personal stories, stuff that would make people feel comfortable when they came in and saw their unique experience reflected in the reading material.”
Bennett’s centre offers community acupuncture and services on a sliding scale in order to accommodate people who may otherwise find the help they need inaccessible.
“Zines relate to wellness in that they are a vehicle for personal expression and maybe processing things that are challenging. ... I kind of see zines as one of the many tools for dealing with things that could be challenging in our life or traumatic.”
Zines as self-published and financially accessible material relates to Bennett’s sliding scale practice, as both are able to connect people, regardless of economic situation, to community and wellness.
“It’s not infrequent for zines to be sold on a sliding scale or for barter or pay what you can or that sort of thing, so it does kind of match our overall aesthetic that we’re trying to operate outside of the conventional consumer system with the way we offer our services. And I think zines kind of reflect that as well.”
"I kind of see zines as one of the many tools for dealing with things that could be challenging in our life or traumatic.”
Zines hold a history of Hamilton’s artists in their messy, photocopied pages. Excluded artists and uncreative folks alike can find community through the collaboration that goes into the creation and dissemination of the medium. Zines aren’t a James Street North novelty, and they aren’t going anywhere.
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While still largely an underground phenomenon, zines have recently exploded into the main-stream, with artists like Kanye West and Frank Ocean dabbling in the self-publishing, DIY practice. The fact that celebrities are now making “zines” does take away from the combative DIY ethos that has surrounded zines since their inception.
Originally intended as a means of publication outside of the realm of traditionally stodgy publishing companies, zines have been responsible for the dissemination of marginalized voices speaking about their unique experiences as well as challenging widespread oppression.
Such voices will be able to be heard in abundance at the Hamilton Feminist Zine Fair organized by the Sexual Assault Centre (Hamilton Area) at the Hamilton Central Public Library on Nov. 5. While the event itself is free, an array of creatives from Hamilton and the surrounding area will be selling their wares at tables set up around the library, so make sure to save up.
Here are some of the zines we’re most looking forward to seeing this year.
From The Roots
From The Roots is a zine “dedicated to documenting stories, poetry, articles, testimonies and images of women of colour in Canada.” The publication seeks to maintain a happy balance with the oftentimes kitschy cut-and-paste traditions of zines of the past, while aspiring to be the voice of a quasi punk/literary journal.
Georgia Webber
Georgia Webber is a Hamiltonian comic artist and writer who has an array of experience working in writing, editing, and design. Her comic series DUMB arose out of her making the best out of a poor situation. After a doctor told her that the chronic pain in her vocal chords would not subside unless drastic measures were taken, Webber took to an extreme form of treatment: total vocal rest. In DUMB, Webber bravely and humorously expounds upon the struggle that her journey since October 2012 has led her through. While she has worked towards being able to speak up to three hours per day, Webber has created a definitive voice of her own that leaps off the pages of her comics.
Amy Egerdeen
Credit has to be shown where credit is due. As co-founder of the Hamilton Feminist Zine Fair, Egerdeen deserves plenty of it. Egerdeen is a skilled artist in her own right, with her illustrations capturing the eye with their evocative playfulness, but her work within the community as an arts-based facilitator deserves hearty commendation.
From The Margins
As the artistic collaboration between Geoff and Clementine Morrigan, From The Margins concerns itself with topics as wide-ranging as “queerness, femme identity, sexuality, intimacy, community, addiction, sobriety, intoxication culture, trauma, madness, accessibility and hope.” On his part, Geoff writes about mixed race and genderqueer identity, while Clementine takes up surviving child abuse and intimate partner violence.
Heidi Cho
A skilled interdisciplinary artist whose works in several mediums (silkscreening, animation, mosaic, drawing, and writing), Heidi Cho essentially just makes cool stuff. From t-shirts and more run of the mill zines, to totes, you can bet that Cho will have something for you, whether that is related to self-care, navigating depression, and intersectionality.
By: Vania Pagniello
Good, not-so-ol’fashioned DIY feminism, friends and fun at the Hamilton Feminist Zine Fair this Saturday.
On Nov. 11, Hamilton will be celebrating its third annual Feminist Zine Fair. With double the amount of artists who sold their work in the first year, the event is now being hosted on the fourth floor of the Hamilton Public Library from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., in order to accommodate the increasing number participants.
The free-of-charge event is hosted by the Sexual Assault Centre (Hamilton Area), an organization dedicated to supporting survivors of sexual assault and gender-based violence. SACHA’s intention for the event is to create a safe space for marginalized voices to be heard and to deepen individuals’ understandings of feminisms through discussion and art.
A zine is a self-published miniature magazine. Topics of zines range from political narratives to fan fiction to illustrations. They typically sell for between $2 and $5.
In the case of the Hamilton Feminist Zine Fair, the connecting theme underlying all zine topics is feminism. Promisingly, there will be a variety of topics mirroring the diversity of human experiences and expression.
Zinesters are deeply embedded within the workings of this event. They will be seated behind the tables that showcase their zines and sometimes other purchasable items like stickers, pins, t-shirts, and treats too.
As necessary as the transaction of money is for the artists, they are not just vendors. Many welcome discussions keeping in mind the ultimate objective of the fair: the exchanging of ideas.
An enjoyable experience is easy here. Along with the selling of items and opportunity for discussion, there will also be a “four-hour zine challenge”; a themed zine made during the day that anyone at the fair can contribute to. The theme of the assembled zine this year focuses on supportive messages to survivors of sexual assault. At they end of the day, it will be distributed, displaying everyone’s unique contributions of content.
Although there will be plenty of zines to browse and buy for a small fee, SACHA’s main intention for the fair is to create a space for marginalized people to tell their own stories.
Amy Egerdeen, SACHA volunteer and HFZF coordinator, speaks to this intention.
“We put out a call for people who make zines and do their own kinds of publications who are definitely coming from feminist angle. I also had people that I contacted because we really wanted to prioritize trans* folks and people of colour. So we did some seeking out for people we thought would be a good fit… that’s kind of where we are coming from and what we want to make sure is a really big part of the zine fair.”
Also noteworthy is the way feminist politics and zine publications complement each other. DIY self-publication is a useful tool for activists to disseminate their ideas without having to censor them in order to get approval from a mainstream source.
“[Feminist zinesters] do a lot of work that is personal and that isn’t the traditional stuff that gets published. Its a great way for people to get their voices out there in a way that doesn’t have to be okayed by a big publisher or okayed by a mainstream magazine,” Egerdeen explained.
Ultimately, HFZF adds vibrancy to Hamilton through its DIY art activism.
“[The HFZF] is really growing in the community. We are just watching it become its own kind of thing! So that’s pretty exciting… there’s been a lot more zine activity happening in Hamilton since [it started]… I think it’s really cool what’s happening here,” said Egerdeen.
In its entirety, the HFZF is a marketplace for feminist literature and art. Naturally, its materialization is temporary, but the ideas shared here still transcend their brief presentation.
