…began with and continue to be made by folks who are disadvantaged, outcast, rebels, resilient. 

What the heck is a zine?

In college, a professor told me that my work was "schizophrenic." I have so many issues with the way he provided this feedback. Maybe just stick with language from your area of expertise… Art. Don’t use language from psychology or mental health. Ya know? I think he meant that my art was all over the place. Or that he couldn’t pin down my style. Or maybe that it would be hard for a gallery to market me because I work in too many media. Who knows.

When the idea of zines was first introduced to me by a museum colleague years ago, I wasn't in the right headspace to jump in yet. Shoutout to Kaitlyn Lafferty!

Then, a couple years ago, I saw a video by an artist - @BrattyxBre who’s video is linked above - where she *geeked* about the medium of zines, how they are at their core an inclusive and accessible method of self-expression and education. She was hyped to share how they have basically no rules, they can be messy, and she was very encouraging that anyone can make one with whatever materials they have available to them. 

Anyway, all that to say, when several years later, I hear an artist telling me that zines can be whatever I want, and messy is great, I got so excited! This could be where the clusterfuck of my creative expressions find their home! And I've made several of zines over the past couple of years. Some are personal zines, aka "per-zines." Some are educational. Some include collage and ransom note style words and letters cut and pasted into them. Some are very neat and tidy and include pen drawings I've made by hand. And I have at least 50 more ideas for zines I'd like to make… Or zine series. I'm hooked.

It's been a really lovely way to find my fellow disabled and neurodivergent people. It's been a great re-education. Zines are filling in the gaps from the K-12 schooling I went through, replacing the severely flawed history that I learned in that setting steeped in racism, ableism, you name it.

I've found the medium and community of zines to be a refuge.
A source of relief, connection, and hope.