Sequential Images: Zines

A self-published thematic mini magazine made by photocopying drawings usually with a black and white photocopier, which are really cheap to produce. There are a lot of variations of contents in zines, but they are initially created to voice out unpopular opinion which can be too radical and/or too extreme to be published by the mainstream media. A vast amount of zines actively challenge the status quo in daily life being an accessible mean to reproduce works of art, like those satire socio-political zines made by Riot Grrrl.

Earlier on zines were used to be free and non-profit publications by independent artists, but now independent bookstore sells some of them to provide support for the artists. My first encounter of zines was when I went to The Village which is an independent bookstore in Leeds. I love them because they are really quirky, unique, and (upon further realisation) useful for underground artists to showcase their work to the public without relying on the mainstream media. Although the scope of such publications is still small, there is potential for zines to be distributed more widely by encouraging underground artists to display and sell their artworks in local or even international comic conventions.

Zines by Riot Grrrl Activism: Alien She at YBCA on Feminism and Queerness