by Sadee Bee
I was gracefully taken on a date to an event at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN for a part of the Insights 2024 Design Lecture Series. It has been a long time since I have attended an event of this nature and was incredibly excited. So, off I went, masked up along with everyone else in attendance to learn about the history of zines.
Below, I will add a bit of what the event was centered around (this tidbit comes directly from Walker Art Center’s website):
“For 20 years, the Twin Cities Zine Fest (TCZF) has welcomed creatives, rebels, musicians, and frustrated intellectuals to connect, create, and share ideas through zines and self-publishing. Collectively organized by a group of volunteers, TCZF has collaboratively supported this form of design most often created by those without traditional, formal design training. Instead, TCZF champions sustainable support of self-publishing and the DIY ethic in local communities, with an intersectional focus on politically and socially engaged zines, community partnership, and amplifying the voices of those who have been historically unheard. Gathering a group of zine makers throughout TCZF’s years, this evening explores the vibrant plurality of voices and perspectives on local zines.”
We heard from some influential voices in the zine scene such as BakiBakiBaki, Late Night Copies Press, E. Joy Mehr, Synthia Nicole, and YOLOW Zines; who all possessed amazing personalities and insights into the history of resistance, information, and community in the form of zine making and distribution.
What a joy and an inspiration to be in a room surrounded by people with a thirst for creative knowledge and the quest for community. Yes, this was a lecture but hardly high school english. It was fun, at times funny, and so eye opening into the history of design influences from the BIPOC and Queer communities from the very inception of Zines. Did you know that Ida B. Wells was a zinester? I surely didn’t. She wrote and distributed The Red Record which detailed the horrifying events of lynching in the Postbellum American South; a zine that lives on and can even be read today.
I also loved learning about the amazing Queer zines that pioneered Queer erotica and Queer life in a time where being out and proud was taboo. Zines such as PATS and Lesbian Voices, which you can learn all about through the Queer Zine Archive.
While most of the talk centered around the independent speaker’s journey to zine making and organizing, the overarching theme of the night was community. Making a zine is only the first part of being a zinester, it is the community action, resource sharing, and education that really make up a large part of the experience. Using one’s voice through their own means of production, speaking to your own local experiences, or even just voicing your frustrations with the world in a format no one can stop you from making. Zines are accessible in a world where the cost to access and recognition for artists and writers everywhere is simply becoming too high. The community of zinesters also emphasizes the importance of local libraries and third spaces in which resources are provided to enhance creativity, not deter it. Community is rebellion, as well as using your voice when others would prefer that you didn’t.
All of this is to say that I enjoyed learning about something with such a rich history and was lucky to be in the same room with all of these amazing people. Go forth and make a zine, or don’t, I really can’t tell you what to do. But know that individualism in society and especially in creative pursuits can only hinder us in the long run. When you have a spare moment, support the arts in any way you can, they are vital to our survival.
Sadee Bee (she/they) is a queer artist and writer inspired by magic, strange dreams, and creepy vibes. She has an associate’s degree in liberal arts with a focus in psychology and sociology. Sadee’s work draws heavily from her experiences with mental illness and trauma, and she is also inspired by music and the divine feminine expression. Sadee is the Visual Arts Editor for Sage Cigarettes Magazine and the author of Pupa: Growth & Metamorphosis (Alien Buddha Press) and Magic Lives In Girls (kith books). Past publishers of her work include Moss Puppy Magazine, The Bitchin’ Kitsch, and Corporeal Lit. Influx Gallery has also exhibited her visual artwork.
