erika is coming...

Check here for a lil preview on Erika Lopez, who is touring her show, The Welfare Queen in Manchester on 5th Feb at The Yard Theatre, Hulme.

birds eye view festival 2009

From my inbox...

Birds Eye View continues to celebrate international women filmmakers with our fifth London film festival, 9 days jam-packed with over 70 events. Breathtaking films from all corners of the globe: top US indie faves, UK premieres including Cannes Critics Week winner, inspirational new work from Afghan women filmmakers, European arthouse gems and a trek around Nigerian Nollywood. All this, plus the hottest Screen Seductresses from the beginning of cinema to the present day accompanied by live music scores.

On top of our stunning programme of films, we also an exclusive masterclass and retrospective from world-class director Mary Harron (American Psycho, The Notorious Bettie Page), one-off live music events from cutting edge female artists such as Bishi and Broken Hearts Djs, moving image innovation, fashion films presented by Miranda Sawyer, training workshops, parties and much, much more… !

Detailed highlights of our 2009 Festival Programme are now available on our website, with more info to come!

girls who draw

GIRLS WHO DRAW are an international group of all female illustrators, each one with their own unique visual language. Their work is very diverse including slick digital graphics, quirky hand drawn characters, and humerous sequential imagery.

Exhibiting:- Gemma Correll, Yee Ting Kuit, Jane Anderson, Zoë Darnell, Tanya Meditzky, Karoline Rerrie, and Sarah Ray.

Time and Place
03 February - 3 March 2009
Location: Exposure
Street: 22-23 little portland street, London, United Kingdom

moooore

Just found another neat synopsis of last weekend's comix zine exhibition HERE

Thanks Mondo a-go-go!

abortion democracy

from my inbox:

Dear friends,
I am helping Sarah Diel organise a screening tour of her film Abortion Democracy which focuses on the politics of abortion in South Africa and Poland.
Info attached, or click on this link:
www.abortion-democracy.de

She would like to organise a screening tour for the film later this year/ early next year.
She wants to travel with the film in order to have a discussion after the screening, and is looking for 200euro per screening. If you are a smaller/ low budget group then she may do it for less, but is also trying to recoup her expenses since she paid for the film itself. She is looking to reach many different groups with this work, in her words: 'Among the people I want to reach is not only leftwings and feminists, I especially want to reach out to NGOs, family planning organizations, health staff, doctors, lawyers, medical or social students in university, psychologists, politicians etc.
In Germany f.e. I showed the film allready in the German Parliament'. If you think that you, or your group/ institution would be interested in organising a UK/ Ireland based screening later this year/ early next year, then please contact Sarah sarah.diehl@yahoo.de

Please forward this to any interested networks - I am sure the film screening and accompanying talk would make for a great event. Best, Debi

maxi fun

Zinefest! this weekend was a total joyful success. I bumped into a ridiculous amount of wonderful people, and the exhibition appeared to go down a storm.
I'll write more when I get my thoughts in order about it, but for now, Sarah McIntyre, (one of the artists exhibiting work as part of the Comics Zine exhibition) has blogged about her experience of the event HERE

Thanks to everybody involved, and thank you to all those who came over to introduce themselves to me; it was lovely to meet so many inspirational people xox

(photo by Lazy Soosan)

call for submissions

Reassess Your Weapons zine needs contributions and submissions for it’s tenth issue.

I didn’t have time to push to get the zine together in time for Zinefest (sorry!), so the deadline has been put back giving time for many more submissions to roll in.
Please do contribute if you can.

As always, general submissions are hugely sought after, as well as submissions around this issue’s theme: Boundaries.

The theme developed from the need to recognise and respect boundaries in order to effectively and comfortably work within, and contribute collectively to our communities.
However, please feel free to contribute by exploring any ways in which boundaries affect or influence you. Or around the theme of boundaries in general – social, political, geographical, work-based, private, public, etc. etc.
Submissions can be in any form – from written discussion, tips, illustrations, personal experience, whatever!

Also, something that we started in Issue 9 was collecting together a section of recommendations. If there’s something you’ve come across or love that you would like to spread the word about and recommend to the readers of RAYW, please feel free to write a short piece (about two sentences) about it.
Examples from issue nine included books, tea, mooncups, humour, films, podcasts, that sort of thing.

Reassess Your Weapons zine developed from the Manifesta feminist and queer DIY collective in Leeds, UK but has grown into a wider collective, contributions based zine, which is looking for submissions from friends and supporters of Manifesta’s feminist ethos.
To learn more about Manifesta, please visit: manifesta's myspace or the largely out of date website.

To contribute, or for more information, please contact: reassessyrweapons@manifesta.co.uk

Deadline for submissions: March 1st 2009

Many thanks, Melanie xox

from the end of the month

from my inbox...

From January 30th, Tower Hamlets, London, will be hosting a month long series of events to celebrate LGBT history month.

Click on the link 'find out more' to see the full programme of events, including workshops, history walks, art events, drama, talks, film nights, meetings, and more.

UK DIY, explores the emergence of alternative, subversive, political craft taking place across the UK

From my inbox...


Exhibition Opportunity - Zine makers, Turnpike Gallery

Contact Louise Clennell l.clennell@wlct.org

Description:
Zine makers from across the UK are invited to send a copy of their most recent zine to be included in a forthcoming exhibition at Turnpike Gallery in Greater Manchester. The exhibition, UK DIY, explores the emergence of alternative, subversive, political craft taking place across the UK as a new generation reclaim and re-define craft, adding a distinctive tongue-in-cheek edge, and features craft that crosses over with music, science, technology, activism and street culture. The exhibition runs from 14 February – 25 April 2009.

Zines should be posted to: UK DIY, Turnpike Gallery, Civic Square, Leigh, Greater Manchester, WN7 1EB. Please include your name and the town/city where you live.

Please note that we are unable to return zines at the end of the exhibition.

Deadline for submissions: Monday 9 February 2009.

For more information please contact Louise Clennell, Gallery Co-ordinator, T. 01942 404469, email l.clennell@wlct.org



The UK DIY blog is also pretty darn interesting, and has details of more that's going on at the Turnpike Gallery

when art is culture and not just in a museum, it has more potential for change

Sometimes things just stop me in my tracks and hit me hard.

Take this for example... Tobi Vail's Underground Ideas 2009 manifesto.

This work-in-progress post, and the comments on it make my heart smile.

eek, it's picking up some excitement!

downthetubes.net has a news blog which features the comix zine exhibition occurring this Saturday as part of zinefest!
it seems that news about this has really spread within comix circles, which is great as there's lots of great work on show.

see the blog here

thanks to John for doing this and letting me know about it.

objects & security

from my inbox...

Hello-

We are working on a project meant to explore the objects women carry in relationship to their sense of security.


We are writing to see if you would be willing to participate in the project by sending us an email with your first name, your location, and listing an object or objects you typically carry with you that makes you feel 'safe'in some way. (This could be anything from a knife, to a container of tea tree oil, to a book or a favorite snapshot.
)

Please send email to: kathleen.hanna.and.becca.albee@gmail.com


Thank you so much for your time and please feel free to forward to anyone that you would like.


Best,
Kathleen Hanna and Becca Albee
January 8, 2009
New York, NY

couldn't sum my current state of mind up more if it tried!

Natalie Dee

what i wouldn't give...

Mark Ryden's artwork is what first got me lusting after art all those years ago, and the previews of his exhibition, 'The Snow Yak Show' showing from February 7th in Tokyo, Japan at the Tomio Koyama Gallery has just rekindled my love all over again.

zine spotting

I received this video link from Nina Nijsten.

Nina is to be part of a music/performance/art camp and festival for children and youngsters in Neerpelt, Belgium, named Tijdbom (= time bomb) that consists of various projects that they can choose from to participate in.
Nina is in charge of the "alternative press group" for youngsters and there's plans to make a zine in 1 week about the other projects.
One of the Tijdbom people filmed Nina calling for youngsters to take part in the zine project. He filmed some zines as well as Nina, and it's like a game of zine eye-spy! Wish I understood the language more.

View video here

race revolt four

A tremendous zine project edited by a dear friend...

Race Revolt - A Call For Submissions


Please respond to: racerevolt@riseup.net

*** Please forward far and wide! ***

Race Revolt, a zine addressing issues of race, ethnicity and identity with a queer, feminist and diy focus, needs contributions for its 4th issue.

The theme of this issue will be 'Whiteness', this can be approached however you want.
[Possible topics could be: migration, visibility, white privilege, passing, and more...]

Looking for articles, scribbles, art, images and so on...

Deadline has been set for January 30th but please get in touch with your ideas for contributions even if you cannot make this deadline...

xxx

a sneaky peak

Here's just a small portion of the zines that have been submitted for the UK Female Comix-Zine exhibition due to take place at Zinefest! on 24th January.



Zinefest! is on Saturday 24th January 2009, 12-4pm.
It's Free and at The Women's Library, 25 Old Castle Street, London





Taking part in the comix-zine exhibition of zines, comix artwork, and larger than life zine pages are:
Lizz Lunney, Charlotte Percival, Sarah Lippett, Rosie Brice, Karrie Fransman, Erica Akerlund, Lady Lucy, Flo Brooks, Carolyn Alexander, Kate Dickinson, Jenny Linn-Cole, Kate Evans, Liz Greenfield, Leonie O’Moore, Carol Swain, Tanya Meditzky, Francesca Cassavetti, Isy Morgenmuffel, Sarah Ray, Jeremy Dennis, Sally-Anne Hickman, Laura Stimpson, Karoline Rerrie, Ellen Lindner, Sarah Lynch, Sarah McIntyre, Lucy Sweet, Siobhan Bowers, Rachael House, Lee Kennedy, Jess Bradley, Heather Middleton, Jackie Batey, Iro Tsavala, Siobhan Britton, Mireille Fauchon, Emma Welch, Susie Rumsby, plus more.




Jess Bradley has created a mini comic just for zinefest to take away on the day...



The exhibition is just a small selection of what's on offer on the day at Zinestest!
The full programme includes:

12-1.30pm Self-publishing 101 (seminar room)

A hands-on introduction to making your own zine and comic with fabulous tips from Anna-Marie and Phoebe Pamflet, Rachel Pamzine, Karrie Fransman & Jay Bernard. After the intros, we'll make pages for a collective workshop zine!

12- 2.15pm Screen Your World -Printing Desire (activities room)

Gosia will introduce you to the wonderful world of screen printing: making your own frame and light exposure table, and preparing your work space and picture to screen. You'll also print something yourself! Materials provided- but bring along a t-shirt if you wanna wear your designs!
15 places max- please book your reservation at the reception on the day.

P.S. this workshop isn't suitable for children, but they & their adult companions are welcome to screen print something with Gosia after the workshop!

1.30-2pm and 2-2.30pm Zine Tour (meet at reception)

Take a tour round the Between the Covers magazine exhibition and check out the library's own women's zine collection with some lovely staff from the Women's Library

1.45 - 2.30pm History of Queer Zines (friends room)

A visual exploration through the history and current climate of DIY queer zines. The workshop will investigate why queer creativity and zine writing -- along with counter culture, gender, race and feminist issues-- are still relevant in contemporary society. Feel free to bring along zines/writing to share or talk about. led by colette who writes, trades and distros zines but is too young to have experienced riot grrrl first hand.

P.S. this workshop isn't suitable for children

2.30-4pm Radical Publishing Panel (seminar room)

Chaired by debi withers, this panel considers feminist publishing collectives past and present. Our marvelous participants include Jess Baines (See Red poster making collective & Women in Print), members of Outwrite (anti-imperialist women's newspaper in the 80s), RAG (anarcha-feminist group/magazine based in Dublin) and Melissa from Cherry Bomb Comics (based in Auckland and London).
This discussion panel opens up important histories & looks at how women have worked together from the second to the third wave to create ongoing independent, visual, publishing projects. Come and ask your questions!

12-4pm Comic Exhibition (cafe space)

Curated by Melanie Maddison (Colouring Outside the Lines art zine), this UK-focused comic exhibition will feature women and transgender comic makers sharing their publications and original artworks.


12-4pm Outwrite Exhibition (cafe space)

Members of the FAF Feminist History Group will be showcasing their exhibition ideas on the anti-imperialist women's newspaper Outwrite, as the first stage of an ongoing project. They're also looking for volunteers to get involved in the exhibition, so find out more at www.feministactivistforum.org.uk

12-4pm Stalls (mezzanine)

Manifesta, Subtext, Synthesis, Paper Dinosaur, Girls Rock!, Richochet Richochet!, Cherry Bomb, Unfinished Histories, Marching Stars, Emma Jane Falconer, Feminist Childrearing Zine Group, Liz Greenfield, Ilk, & more tbc

Am putting this here as a reminder to myself to read the links...
http://radicalcrossstitch.com/2009/01/06/clever-people-abound

bad skin, doll heart

Last night I got an email from a friend suggesting we spend much of 2009 making paper mache dolls, then today I find the Tattoo Baby Doll Project,
Me thinks my spare time in 2009 is mapped out for me from here on..!

i'm sceptical too

Studio Violet/Camilla Engman