London and Brighton visit – some photos

Some photos and memories from a trip to London and Brighton in February:

On a recent visit to the UK, I went to an exhibition at the London College of Communication about feminist zines called “The Gaze” together with a friend who’s into zines too. The zines were presented in a very original way as you can see. The stairs/stages allowed and encouraged visitors to sit on them and start reading the zines that were exhibited. The focus was on Latin American zines but there were zines from other places too.

Afterwards we visited the infoshop/bookshop of 56a. Happy to discover this place!

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New band!! Introducing… Lavender Witch!

I have very exciting news: I’m in a new band!

We are called Lavender Witch.

We are 5 noisy witches who gathered in a dungeon (that’s what our rehearsal space looks like) to play and write spells – uh, I mean songs – for your musical enjoyment (enchantment?).

To hear our music or see us play live, you’ll have to be a bit more patient. But I’ll certainly post any news here on this blog. You can also like and follow us on facebook and check out our very own blog:

Find us online here:

• Facebook
• Website/blog

 

Zines I read in 2018 (January – March)

Last year I wrote mini reviews of all the zines I read (a lot!) but the review-writing was taking time away from actually reading (and also making) zines… This year I still want to talk about all the amazing zines I am so lucky to get my hands on and devour, so I decided to take photos of the zine covers to show and promote them. Here you can see the ones I read in January, February and March 2018.

I recently reorganised my “unread” zines so I immeditately wanted to read all of them… It was like opening treasure boxes that I had half forgotten about. I should do this more often, browsing through these as yet unexplored little booklets! I also had the opportunity to buy and trade some wonderful zines to expand my collection, some of which during visits to London and Brighton. So lots of fresh and re-discovered materials to delve into… Take a look:

24 hour zines at Girls Go Boom Clubhouse + new zine: Dirty Lesbian!

One and a half month ago (sorry for the delay in reporting on this), in a youth centre/basement/venue called PLEK in Ghent, while listening to a mix of Team Dresch and the Cardigans, a bunch of zinesters and curious creatives got together to try to make zines in 24 hours…

The event was a collaboration between Girls Go BOOM and ECHO. As part of their month-long residence at PLEK, Girls Go BOOM offered space for a creative zine gathering during which participants could create their own zine. This resulted in the birth of several amazing zines (some finished later). It was a great occasion to see the medium of zines spread even more in the local punk-feminist scene.

The zine I made during the 24 Hour Zine Thing event is called Dirty Lesbian. It’s about lesbophobia (even within some feminist scenes), reclaiming lesbian-feminism, cool dyke heroines / musicians / comics / zines, like & hate lists, and more. It’s at the same time an angry and a silly zine.

Dirty Lesbian features Chainsaw Bunny on the cover, and consists of lots of collages, a comic, and hand-written text.

 

Dirty Lesbian is A6-size, 32 pages, lavender-coloured cover, recycled paper inside and lavender-coloured mini-poster.

It costs 1 euro + postage or (preferably) trade with similar zine. Mail me for a trade/order.

 

New mini-zine: Do It Your Self-care (made at zine workshop in Vort’n Vis)

Do It Your Self-care is a mini-zine about self-care made during a zine workshop* I did at the autonomous punk venue Vort’n Vis in Ieper (Belgium) with great help from Kimme. It also happened to be created in the month of March so it fit perfectly for Mini-Zine March (the month in which you are even more encouraged to make mini-zines than usual!).

The mini-zine talks about what self-care is for me and things that help me, with a collage-poster on the inside. It’s printed in full-colour.

How to get a copy?

I would like trades with other (your own) self-care (mini-)zines. Suggest a trade.

Mail to flapper_grrrl@yahoo.co.uk.

I may upload the pdf at some point for you to print too. Not just now, as it is quite personal.

*You’ll probably be able to read more about this workshop in the next issue of Same Heartbeats (#13)!

News & updates (February 2018)

Same Heartbeats #12, one of my zines at Bluestockings in NYC! Thanks to Sister Ray Zines for bringing them there and taking the photo!

NEWS

My next “24 hour zine” is almost finished and printed… It was made during the 24 Hour Zine event co-organised by Girls Go BOOM at PLEK in Ghent. At the same time I’m slowly working on a mini-zine about self-care and a Brussels DIY tourist zine and I started writing down some ideas for Same Heartbeats #13…

As you can see on the photo on the right, some of my zines are now for sale in Bluestockings in New York, thanks to Sister Ray Zines whose zines can be bought there too! Since recently (more of) my zines are available in the London College of Communication library, 56a Infoshop, Housmans, and the Feminist Library in London. Take a look here to see an updated list of places where you can find my zines.

EVENTS

• DIY zine-making workshop:
  Saturday March 3rd at 13:00
  at Vort’n Vis in Ieper
  I’ll give a workshop on how to make your own zine! Do it yourself!
  Facebook event
• Alternatieve Boekenbeurs:
  Saturday April 14th at 10:00
  at De Koer in Ghent
  I’ll be sharing a zine table with FEL and other zine friends
  Website
• Zine Happening IV:
  Saturday and Sunday May 5-6th
  at Miat in Ghent
  I’ll be sharing a zine table with zine friends and FEL
  Website

Upcoming zine events

Here are two upcoming zine events I’m doing (with FEL & the 24 Hour Zine Team / Creative Coffee zinesters):

• 24 hour zine challenge!
  Feb 16-17th from 16:00-16:00:
  This is part of the month-long Girls Go Boom Club House event at PLEK in Gent. Come and make your own zine in 24 hours! You can also come and join us for just a few hours. At night we go to sleep, to regenerate our zine energy, so find a sleeping place!
  Facebook event
  Where? PLEK: Kammerstraat 10, Gent
  What to bring? Pen, pencil, paper, scissors, glue, some old magazines, and any craft materials you like to use.
  (The activism workshop on Sunday 18th is cancelled!)

 

• DIY zine workshop afternoon!
  March 3rd from 13:00-17:00:
  Learn how to make your own zine or mini-zine, at Vort’n Vis in Ieper.
  Facebook event
  Where? Vort’n Vis: Sint-Jacobsstraat 3, Ieper
  What to bring? Pen, pencil, paper, scissors, glue, some old magazines, and other craft materials you like to use.
  Option to make copies of your zine at a nearby copycentre (bring some cash!).