Dear Diary...
what's happening in my little zine world
October was an exciting month in my life as a zinester!! I released a couple zines, tabled at the first ever Hoffman Estates Zine Fest, and lectured on zine history at Harper College. Um wow thank you !!!!!
This October, I released issue 05 of my perzine (for which this blog is named), and was able to raise $100 to donate to families in Palestine :) Yippie!
Thank you to anyone who picked up a copy, had kind words to say about my work, or listened to the accompanying mixtape! Sometimes I get nervous when I release zines – Nobody’s Diary is quite literally excerpts from my real diary. There’s always the risk of being misunderstood or being perceived too much, and that’s scary. But I also think that I make art because, ultimately, I would rather be known than be mysterious.
I had a strange and difficult summer. It was characterized by extremes: loneliness and claustrophobia, working every day and going out every night, losing myself in chaos and being reborn in clarity. Despair and ecstasy, over and over, again and again…. That intensity is definitely reflected in issue 05.
My perzines have a tendency to lean into darker subject matter, though they usually end in hope somehow. Lately, I’ve been bored with grief and more interested in imagining a better world for myself to exist in.
Over the past few years, I think I became kind of obsessed with creativity as a form of productivity. To the point where it became a monster in my head, something I was scared to face every day. It made me fall out of love with making art for a bit.
I’m trying to reclaim the magic of creating now – rewire my brain to see art like I did when I was a kid. If all the world can offer me is darkness, then I’ll create my own world, rewrite home and experience to be something more beautiful to inhabit.
xoxo
Sky