etsy shop update

For anybody who may be interested, I've updated my Etsy shop with listings for my new zines.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/COTL?ref=si_shop

Colouring Outside The Lines zine #6

After only a measley 3 and 1/2 years wait since the last one (!!) Issue #6 of Colouring Outside The Lines zine is out, and will be debuting at Queer Zine Fest London (UK) this Saturday.

Colouring Outside The Lines is a zine full of conversations with contemporary female artists.

This issue features interviews with Lauren Denitzio, Fly, Megan Kelso, Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring, Allyson Mitchell, Caroline Paquita, Summer Pierre, Lindsay Starbuck, and Anke Weckmann. Thank you so much to you all for making this issue such a special one.

Special love to Amy Ng for her front cover artwork too.

Each copy of Colouring Outside The Lines #6 comes with a limited edition bookmark designed and letterpress printed by Jessica Spring at Springtide Press (USA)

I'll get on to selling the zines online properly once I'm back from London.

See: http://cotlzine.blogspot.co.uk/ for further information on the zine

LTT: On creativity and self-destruction. 2nd Ed

Oops, I'm a bit slow with news on this, since the book came out in September, but just wanted to spread the news about the second wonderful edition of Sabrina Chap's book: 'Live Through This: On Creativity & Self-Destruction'.

Full disclosure: I was lucky enough to work on the book in a small way (as proof-reader/proof editor for certain sections), so came to know how awesome the second edition is, and how much the book has grown and developed since it's first issue.

For more info on the book, and to order directly from the publisher. See: http://catalog.sevenstories.com/products/live-through-this

S&S exhibition opens a week today

EEk!! I've just been hit with the overwhelming realisation that this time next week I'll be getting ready to head down to London for the opening of the Shape & Situate: Posters Of Inspirational European Women exhibition. The first time the posters have been shown in a proper gallery setting. Yikes.

All the info is here: http://www.spacestationsixtyfive.com/exhibitions_and_projects.php?project_id=140

Cambodian Womens Development Agency

From my inbox, via my friend Anna who works for Cambodian Womens Development Agency:

I wanted to share with you some of the work I'm doing.

The organisation which I am volunteering for has a safe shelter for girls and young women who have experienced gender based violence or human rights abuses (like trafficking). The shelter costs about $30,000 per year to run and we are funded by two anti-trafficking organisations, but it doesn't quite cover the full cost.

I want to try to raise $5000 this December for the shelter. We want to pay for food and hygiene materials for the girls and also pay for essential leisure items like taking them to skateboarding and yoga lessons - both amazing ways of expressing oneself, taking risks and releasing stress!

Can you help? If you can't donate, and I understand money is tight now, can you forward the link onto your friends/ family? I'd love to spread the word as much as possible.

The page goes live today, and we have until December 31st to raise the money. If we reach the goal then we get a permanent spot on Global Giving for the organisation.

Here's the page - you can read more about the project and donate here: (it's in dollars, but it works fine with sterling too!)

http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/safe-shelter-cambodia/

remembering who we are zine seeking submissions

Lindsay Starbuck and I are working on a new zine, 'Remembering Who We Are'.

Below are images of the flier with all the information about the project; we'd love for as many people as possible, from all over the world to contribute. If this is something you'd like to be part of, we'd love for you to submit something.

The zine has links to the memory and history work that Shape & Situate zine has been doing, as well as the art work that Lindsay has been part of with 'Caged Bird Club', and beyond. This time, however, we want to look at our own individual, personal histories to see how we come to be the people that we are, with the politics that we have.

We want participants to share a unique story of a formative event or influential person in their life. We want to hear, see and share examples of moments that have shaped or are shaping people's political values and have made them into who they are today.
We’re looking for examples of social and political history on a personal level; things that you have experienced in your lifetime that have influenced and activated you, or formative events that have made you think about the world in a different way.
This may be as simple as a conversation that you had with someone that made you think critically about things. Or, it may be an example of actions/activisms that have buoyed your own interest in, and your knowledge/awareness of, politics and political action, and/or led you to engage in your own everyday activism, action or activity.

Please see the flier for more information, as we'd love to collect as many contributions as possible, to show how much of a broad church 'activism' is.

Please feel free to share this with friends who may also be interested.

Submissions or questions should be sent to: rememberingzine@gmail.com

You can also read about the zine project on Lindsay's blog: http://andsomeplyers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/workshop-and-zine-call-out.html
(For some reason that I can't fathom, Lindsay's blog can make the images larger than mine can - to save yourself squinting, see the larger ones at her link!)

pics from leeds zine fair, november 4th 2012

For those who were unable to see it on the day, I'm posting some photos from the exhibition of Posters Of Inspirational European Women: Taken from the zine 'Shape & Situate', held at Leeds Zine Fair 2012.

All 97 posters were there to view on the day, whether on the walls or in the book. Thank you to all the contributors!
I prioritized wall space for the new posters from issue #4 of the zine since it was being launched at the event.

Also featured here are photos related to the workshop that me and Lindsay Starbuck ran, 'Remembering Who We Are: Exploring artistic and creative sociopolitical memory'; We had lots of materials, publications and art work from various People's History projects to show-and-tell as part of our discussion/presentation.

On the day, Lindsay & I also launched our shout-out for contributions to a new zine, 'Remembering Who We Are' (http://remember-who-u-are.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/remembering-who-we-are-zine.html).

Thanks to Footprint Workers Co-op for organising for us take over this space at Wharf Chambers for the day!

Lindsay has also put some pics from the day up on her blog. Her camera is *a lot* nicer than mine, so do check out her pictures and run-down of the day: http://andsomeplyers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/leeds-zine-fair.html

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Exhibition: Posters Of Inspirational European Women: Taken from the zine, 'Shape & Situate', at Leeds Zine Fair 4th November 2012

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Some of the resources that were used as part of the show-and-tell during the workshop, 'Remembering Who We Are: Exploring artistic and creative socio-political memory', at Leeds Zine Fair (UK), 4th November 2012

The resources included projects such as, Celebrate People’s History, Occuprint, Inspired Agitators, Dead Feminists, Peops, Great Anarchists, The Life & Times of Butch Dykes, Shape & Situate, Caged Bird Club, Oregon History Comics, Manchester's Moderninst Heroines, Firebrands: Portraits of the Americas.

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The kick off for contributions to a new zine, 'Remembering Who We Are'. See http://andsomeplyers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/workshop-and-zine-call-out.html for further details on how to contribute.

S&S at SS65 - press release

All 97 posters (A3 size) that have been made for the zine, 'Shape & Situate: Posters Of Inspirational European Women' are to be part of an exhibition to be held in London at Space Station Sixty Five gallery.

The exhibition opens as part of Queer Zine Fest London which runs for a day on December 8th 2012, and the exhibition then continues through to January 13th 2013, and then with further reduced opening times until January 26th 2013.

Space Station Sixty Five's mailing list has all the information, and a link to the Press Release: http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=4c6ccfea70f47a48bd1d92495&id=1b898f104a

There is a high possibility that myself and my friend Lindsay Starbuck will be hosting a closing event at Space Station Sixty Five gallery on Satrurday January 26th 2013, presenting and discussing further artistic and creative sociopolitical history and memory work, with a big show-and-tell archive of People's History projects, (including zines, art, publications, and posters), and with contributions and live-discussion from the artists that make them. More news to come on the progress and plans of this

I'll be down at the gallery myself on 8th December, and hopefully too on the 26th January, so come and say hi if you're planning on being there as well!

Shape & Situate issue 4 back from the printers

Shape & Situate: Posters Of Inspirational European Women #4 is back from the printers, and ready to hit Leeds Zine Fair on 4th November, and Queer Zine Fest London on 8th December.

Huge thanks to all the following contributors for making this such a great issue xox

Cj Reay, Hazel Smoczynska, Nina Nijsten, Julia Downes, Holly Casio, Charlotte Young, Sofia Niazi, Jo Harrison, Charlotte Richardson Andrews, Lucie Russell, Chella Quint, Margareta Kern, Rachael House, Benedict Rutherford, Ian Cockburn, A-K Pirata, Erica Smith, Zoraida de Torres Burgos, Jean McEwan, Ian Pepper, Michelle Mendonca, Ed Webb-Ingall, Vic Conway, Laura Simmons, Lindsay Starbuck, Natalie Bradbury.

Thanks too to Footprint Workers Co-op for doing such a great print job!

The zine features posters on:
No Fit State, Delia Derbyshire, Emilie Claeys, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova/Pussy Riot, Olive Morris, Bobby Baker, Gareth Peirce, Sadie Lee, Charlotte Cooper, Karen Horney, Sue Black, Brenda Greenwood, Barbara Steveni, Anne Frank, Constance Markievicz, Kathe Kollwitz , Kathleen Thomas, Penny Pepper, Dominique Abel, Maria Cobo, Leonora Carrington, Sarah Howcroft, Booan Temple, Ali Smith, Rosalind Franklin, Helen Brook, Olive Shapley

sabrina chap tour preview

My rad pal Sabrina Chap is in the UK for some music gigs and book tour dates.

We've put a little something together previewing the tour, and it's online over at The F Word: http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2012/11/sabrina_chap_tour_preview

details of times & happenings at Leeds Zine Fair

Details and times of happenings at Leeds Zine Fair THIS SUNDAY:

Exhibition: Posters of Inspirational European Women: Taken from the zine 'Shape & Situate' -- ALL DAY LONG!! 12pm-6pm

Workshop: Remembering Who We Are: exploring artistic and creative sociopolitical memory -- 12.30-1.30pm (so please come to the Zine Fair early!!)

All the details about these, and everything else can be found at: http://leedszinefair.footprinters.co.uk/index.php/whats-on

Also, if you haven't booked your own stall for your zines on Sunday then come and leave a bunch with me on the individual zine table. We'll be accepting zines all day long and will sell them on your behalf. Come back before the zine fair closes at 6pm to pick up your money and any unsold zines (unfortunatley we can't post zines or money back to people after the zine fair, so please don't forget to pick up before 6pm. Thanks!) I'm looking forward to seeing lots of wonderful zines on the table.

///

Other goings on:

All day we will have "Have-A-Go" letterpress and screen printing set up in a "creative" area with Print Project and Musical Mathematics respectively.

There are two exhibitions also running throughout the day.
Shape and Situate are exhibiting their posters of inspirational women through history and there is the opportunity to bring in photocopies of your photographs to contribute to Torn Up & Photocopied.

Talks and workshops are as follows:

12.30pm - Remembering Who We Are - discussion and starting point of a collective zine about the formative events and influential people in our lives
1.30pm - Zine readings - bring yours and read a piece or just come to listen
2.30pm - Confidence Building For Grrrl Writers - Karren Ablaze planting some seeds.
3.30pm - Printing Technicalities - A Footprinter talking shop.
4.30pm - Taking Control Workshop - Discussion about co-ops: working without bosses and living without landlords.
4.30pm - Poetry Writing with Henry Raby - new outlooks on writing short and snappy poems.

Then there is an after party gig in the evening, which is £2 in to the second room and the bar will open, allowing alcohol to flow.
To attend the gig, please read the following:
“Wharf Chambers Co-operative Club is a members’ club, and you need to be a member, or a guest of a member, in order to attend. To join, please visit wharfchambers.org. Membership costs £1 and requires a minimum of 48 hours to take effect.”

Leeds Zine Fair on Sunday, including: remembering who we are - the zine

On Sunday it's Leeds Zine Fair (see their website for all the details: http://leedszinefair.footprinters.co.uk/index.php/whats-on )

There's oodles of really great stuff going on all day (congratulations to Footprint for co-ordinating everything), and my involvement will be the following:

I'm debuting issue #4 of 'Shape & Situate: Posters Of Inspirational Women' zine! Come and buy a copy!

I'm running the individual zine table on the day for anyone to bring along zines for us to sell on your behalf (seriously, bring me your zines!)

There is going to be an exhibition up all day of 'Posters Of Inspirational European Women: Taken from issues 1-4 of the zine 'Shape & Situate'

PLUS

Myself and Lindsay/Pivo are running the following workshop:

Remembering Who We Are with Melanie Maddison and Lindsay Starbuck – exploring artistic and creative sociopolitical memory. A talk, resource archive and participatory zine-making workshop.
We would like to use the Leeds Zine Fair as an opportunity to have a conversation about the role, importance, and act of creative sociopolitical history projects. We will be hosting a collection of resources from social history art, poster and zine projects for everyone to explore. Inspirational work will be featured from projects such as: Celebrate People’s History, Occuprint, Inspired Agitators, Dead Feminists, Peops, Shape & Situate, Caged Bird Club, Firebrands: Portraits of the Americas, plus many more.
Melanie and Lindsay will give a short talk/discussion about their work with ‘Shape & Situate: Posters Of Inspirational European Women’ and Caged Bird Club that will touch on:

Remembering and celebrating individual’s lives and actions via creative/art projects;
How individual’s lives have been mis/represented in our communities via conventional history;
Moving away from a reliance on the existence (or non-existence) of mainstream dominant written narratives about 'history';
Memory as a political tool; and
Using art to inspire others to join us in creating change in the world.

We’ll also be making a collective zine in line with the work shown and discussed. We will ask participants to share a unique story of a formative event or influential person in their life. We want to hear, see and share examples of moments that have shaped or are shaping people's political values and have made them into who they are today. The finished zine, featuring highlights of what is produced on the day, will be available as a free/copyleft downloadable PDF in 2013.

Sunday will be the launch day for our call-for-contributions for this new zine - see the image below for all the details. We'll be seeking contributions all day on Sunday, so feel free to come prepared with ideas to get involved, but equally the call-for-submissions is open until January.

Click on the images to make them a bit bigger

deviant type

From my inbox, from Annah ♥...

Deviant Type is a new, independent press project dedicated to publishing transgressive, powerful literature written by queer, POC, and/or working class & poor artists. Our goal is to actively seek out and distribute poetry, creative non-fiction, lyric essays, graphic novels, zine collections, and fiction with non-traditional narratives (whether in form or content).

Simply put, our aim is to distribute literature that expresses the true complexity of being alive and the possibilities for personal and social change through literary art.

Deviant Type is a cultural hijacking, a reclamation of independent print-media, and a fearless act of literacy/art activism!

We need your support in order to get this project up & off the ground http://www.indiegogo.com/devianttype

We hope to release our first book, Inbetweenland, by Jacks Ashley McNamara (co-founder of the Icarus Project http://theicarusproject.net/), on March 1st, 2013. For a full description about this book and it's author, see http://devianttype.net/bookstitles

Our goal is to raise $5,000 in the next 60 days, purely through community-funded support. We believe that this is possible- we believe that this is a project that will be of long term benefit to us all, readers and writers alike. Lets make this happen together!

If you're able to donate to our start-up fund, or if you know other folx who might (family members, colleagues, coworkers, etc), click here or please pass this link on http://www.indiegogo.com/devianttype

PS- there are lots of great perks to choose from when you make a donation (and more perks TBA)

With Love, Revolt, & Solidarity through Archive,
The Deviant Type Team

Shape & Situate exhibition set to hit London

The exhibition: Posters Of Inspirational European Women, taken from the zine 'Shape & Situate' is having a month-long residency at Space Station 65 gallery in London from December 2012 to January 2013!!

Tentative, early information can be found on SS65's newsletter

More details of the exhibition, and news of events occurring during the residency coming soon.

keeping busy

women and the graphic novel

From my inbox...

'Women and the Graphic Novel', a panel discussion co-ordinated by Space Station 65 as part of the London Art Book Fair at Whitechapel Gallery is now available to download as a podcast:

iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/laydeez-do-podcasts/id418382224
Blog: http://laydeezdopodcasts.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/who-is-ana-mendieta/

Featuring Nicola Streeten and Sarah Lightman, founders of graphic novel forum Laydeez do Comics and Christine Redfern, co-creator of 'Who is Ana Mendieta?'

Introduced by Space Station Sixty Five directors Jo David and Rachael House.
(Recorded by Whitechapel Gallery, edited by Alex Fitch)
Running time: 56:19 / recorded 22/09/12

The exhibition of original drawings from 'Who is Ana Mendieta?' continues in AIRLOCK, our 2nd gallery space at SS65 in Kennington until 4th November. Open Thurs-Sundays.

poor lass zine

From my inbox, by my good pals Em Ledger & Seleena Daye:

POOR LASS ZINE NEEDS YOU!

Poor la$$es we need you!

Are you an awesome working class grrrl who gets out there, makes do and mends, triumphs over adversity and gets some serious shit done?

Wanna get positive, fierce and precious in equal measures in a new collective zine?

If yes to the above, then we need you.

We’re two working class northern lasses who’ve been involved in the riot grrrl/ DIY queer punk scene for a while who are a little bit sick of being talked about like we don’t exist, especially when we’re in the same room (that’s right Ladyfest, best believe!) We wanna tell our OWN stories, with our OWN voices, in our OWN accents and dialogues and at our OWN academic levels.

We want to give people like us a voice that is so often unheard in our communities. To tell and share our stories, to smash stereotypes and pre-conceived ideas.

So what we’re looking for is your story, whatever way you want to tell it, whatever focus you want to give to it. Just be honest; none of us are victims, none of us are looking for sympathy, shit happens and we have little choice other than to get on with it. Those things make us the super strong powerful folks we are today!

This is going to be a series with running themes each issue such as; educations, jobs, family etc. If you wanna get involved, email us with a mini bio and any particular angles you like to take or discuss and we’ll get crackin’ with issue one!

Email us on poorlasszine@gmail.com Feel free to share this and tag anyone you think may be interested!

Thanks

Em and Seleena

ana albero interview on Pikaland

My interview with the wonderful Ana Albero went up on the Pikaland website this week. Thanks Ana!

http://pikaland.com/2012/10/03/interview-ana-albero

'Remembering Who We Are: Exploring artistic and creative sociopolitical memory

Myself and Lindsay Starbuck are running a workshop at Leeds Zine Fair on November 4th.

The workshop is set to look at Social history art and zine projects, & is going to be called 'Remembering Who We Are: Exploring artistic and creative sociopolitical memory'. We've got a huge bunch of poster/art/zine resources to show-and-tell/exhibit at the Fair.

We also want your help to start to make a social history zine on the day too, capturing examples of moments that have shaped our individual political values. More updates on all of this soon.

For more info on what else is going on on the day, head over to http://leedszinefair.footprinters.co.uk

plotting and planning and getting my hands dirty

Wow, I haven't written anything properly on here for ages. It's because I'm up to my ears in things-to-do and things I've-been-doing.
This week I'm mostly plotting and planning my involvement with two zine fests (Leeds Zine Fair, November 2012, and Queer Zine Fest London, December 2012), one with a killer workshop, two with poster exhibitions, AND, both with new zines. More news on those two new zines soon, and when they'll appear. I'm more than a little excited about them though, despite the hard work getting them to happen, and co-ordinating who'll be involved. Suffice to say though I've been thrilled to be able to contact and speak with some people who are complete gems and have been making my heart and brain swell with their kickass-ness. I love that feeling!

Mostly however, I haven't been writing much on the blog as I've been distracted by watching and listening to Hop Along, and in particular this video below, over-and-over-and-over-again. LOVE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqbUJg6Z4v8

music & liberation exhibition tour

from my inbox...

Music & Liberation, an exhibition about Women’s Liberation Music Making in the UK (1970-1989), is touring the UK this autumn.

Music & Liberation: Women’s Liberation Music Making in the UK, 1970-1989 shows how feminists used music as an activist tool to entertain and empower women during the 1970s and 1980s.

Featuring the work of Jam Today, the Northern Women’s Liberation Rock Band, Feminist Improvising Group, Ova, the Fabulous Dirt Sisters, Abandon Your Tutu, the Mistakes and many others, the exhibition brings together a diverse collection of women’s cultural heritage.

The exhibition will be touring to the following venues:

· 9-25 September, Butetown History & Arts Centre, 4 Dock Chambers, Cardiff, CF10 5AG
· 1-14 October, Bureau ‘off-site’, Three Piccadilly Place, Manchester. M1 3BN
· 29 October–24 November, Glasgow Women’s Library, 15 Berkeley Street, Glasgow G3 7BW
· 30 November-13 January 2013, Space Station Sixty Five, Building One, 373 Kennington Road, London SE11 4PS

All venues except the Glasgow Women’s Library* are wheelchair accessible, and an RNIB Penfriend will be available to facilitate access for visually impaired visitors.
*For information about access arrangements to Glasgow Women’s Library, please contact them on 0141 248 9969, info@womenslibrary.org.uk

The exhibition showcases rare ephemera and artefacts such as posters, songbooks, t-shirts, instruments and fliers. Visitors will be able to watch films, interact with installations, look at photos and, of course, listen to music. This is a unique opportunity to listen to unreleased recordings of practices, live performances and studio tracks from women musicians yet to be discovered by contemporary audiences.

Ten oral histories, which have been collected especially for the project, will also be available to listen to and watch.

Music & Liberation: A Compilation of Music from the Women’s Liberation Movement will be sold at the exhibition, alongside limited edition Music & Liberation postcards made especially for the project.

A series of events will accompany Music & Liberation, including participating in IMPRINT, an experimental women’s art festival taking place in Manchester and Newcastle in October.

Please check the website and twitter for further details of all events and project updates.

The opening event is an afternoon tea party on Sunday, 9 September at the Butetown History & Arts Centre, Cardiff, 2-4pm. There will be film showings and a guided tour of the exhibition.

http://womensliberationmusicarchive.wordpress.com/

http://music-and-liberation.tumblr.com/

@music_liberate

The Facebook event page for the opening is here: http://www.facebook.com/events/469969166377282/

Follow updates @music_liberate

Music & Liberation is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. It is based on theWomen’s Liberation Music Archive, an online blog archive launched in May 2011 by Frankie Green and Dr Deborah Withers.

QZFL

I have many rad friends, but Charlotte Richardson Andrews just got even radder by announcing her plans to make Queer Zine Fest London happen in December.

Date and venue to be confirmed, but for now you can follow the plotting at:

queerzinefestlondon@gmail.com

http://www.facebook.com/lgbtqzinefestlondon

http://queerzinefestlondon.tumblr.com

https://twitter.com/QueerZineFestLd

Of the event, so far, Charlotte writes:

Queer Zine Fest London is go! We’re planning, scheming and looking for queer zine comrades and friends to help organize the fest. Please get in touch if you are interested in any of the following:

•Attending!
•Tabling (setting up camp to sell yr wares)
•Helping to table for absentee zinesters. We’ll be selling zines from around the world on behalf of zinesters and distros who can’t be with us in person and will need plenty of extra hands
•Donating zines for the communal zine table or materials for workshops
•Hosting a workshop or skill share session
•Appearing on a panel/giving a small talk
•Helping to set up the venue
•Helping out on the day (assisting on the door, introducing folk, acting as point-of-contact for stall holders, visitors and fest attendees)
•Have tips, advice or other contributions to make to the planning stages of the fest.
•Want to offer services not listed above
•Want to host us! We’re still choosing a venue. Ideally, we’re after somewhere roomy, accessible, well-lit and affordable.

this is an emergency print portfolio tumblr

Meredith Stern has created a blog for the This Is An Emergency Print Portfolio, where the posters can be viewed, and further information/testimonials can be read. The portfolio is amazing, and the project is such an important one.

http://meredith-stern.tumblr.com/

Meredith writes: This is an Emergency! is a print portfolio project centered on reproductive rights and gender justice.
This project is a collaboration of over two dozen voices. These are people who have experienced gender and reproductive injustice and were moved to dream together. Stories, images and multigenerational interviews combine here to give a range of perspectives on how our lives are impacted by our ability (or lack there of) to experience equality. There is no way an endeavor of this nature could be comprehensive; instead it’s meant to be a small glimpse of some of the complex emotions, ideas and perspectives of people dealing with these issues. I hope this project will inspire dialog and communication. The intent is that it be used along with other organizing efforts to shift culture and provide historical perspectives about how these issues impact our lives in the early 21st century.

S&S#4 - yikes!

Quick heads-up: Pretty soon I'm going to start work on inviting people to be a part of issue #4 of 'Shape & Situate: Posters Of Inspirational European Women' zine.

If you're from anywhere in Europe & want to be kept in the loop about contributions and submissions to the zine and I don't already have your details, drop me a line.

spill the zines always say such lovely things

Cath Elms has given Shape & Situate #3 a nice little review on the June 2012 Spill The Zines vlog review: http://spillthezines.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/zine-reviews-june-12-vlog.html

Thank you!

Spill The Zines is an online UK zine review space: http://spillthezines.blogspot.co.uk/

girl gang season at the star and shadow cinema, newcastle

Girl gang season at the Star and Shadow cinema, Newcastle, September 2012

***

Ladies & Gentlemen The Fabulous Stains & Desperate Lovedolls (double bill)

Girl Gang Season

7:30 p.m. Sunday September 2 2012

Director:Lou Adler / David Markey

This double bill marks the launch of the girl gang season! Look out for gangs of girls making their mark on the city during September. The evening will be introduced by Dr. Julia Downes (Durham University/ even clean hands cause damage) who programmed the season and will share her obsession with the mythological curosity of the girl gang.

Ladies & Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains (1981) was made for the major studio Paramount. However the executives refused to release it which left the Stains as a footnote in film history and ended Lou Adler’s movie career (he never directed again). However the film began to make obscure appearances on cable television and became an inspiration for various girls and women who created riot grrrl in the 1990s, including Tobi Vail who decribed the film as 'the most realistic and profound film I have ever seen’. The film which features an all-girl band The Stains struggle for fame and success has since become a recuperated by generations of radical girls and women.

In contrast Desperate Teenage Lovedolls (1984) is a low budget underground film shot on super-8 film by David Markey. The film is about an all-girl rock band of teenage runaways and their misadventures.

***

An Evening With Gb Jones (triple bill: the yo-yo gang, the troublemakers & the lollipop generation)

7:30 p.m. Thursday September 6 2012

Director: gb jones

gb jones is a well-known Canadian queer underground film maker and artist. She is a figure of the queercore movement as a fanzine writer, film maker and member of all-girl band Fifth Column. She has had retrospectives of her work at Tanz Gallery in Los Angeles. This evening will feature three of gb jones’ DIY films shot on super-8 film that focus on queer community and the girl gang.

The Yo-Yo Gang is an ‘exploitation film’ about girl gangs that documents the actions of two rival girl gangs the Yo Yo Gang and the Skateboard Bitches. The film features many prominent queer musicians including Leslie Mah (Tribe 8), Donna Dresch (Team Dresch) and members of Fifth Column. The tag line for the film reads: "Gang girls frequently out-curse, out-fight and out-sex every boys' gang around"

The Lollipop Generation tells the story of 'Georgie', a runaway teenager played by Jena von Brücker, and the people she meets. At the same time, the film serves a diaristic function, documenting the people the director has met and the cities she travelled to, capturing an entire generation of underground performers including Vaginal Davis, Calvin Johnson and Jen Smith. The film took 13 years to make, whenever gb could afford a cartridge of film, the band Kids on TV organised a benefit so that gb could finish the film.

gb has agreed to do a q&a by telephone after the films.


(N.B from Melanie: I ♥ gb and interviewed her for Colouring Outside The Lines and Art XX magazine (before it became Aorta magazine), http://issuu.com/​aorta_magazine/docs/artxx2 See pg 24 onwards for the gb interview, which talks, in part, about The Lollipop Generation, which will be shown as part of this Girl Gang season that Julia has curated for the Star & Shadow)

***

Times Square (introduced by Dr. Katherine Farrimond)

7:30 p.m. Sunday September 9 2012

Director: Allan Moyle

Times Square is a film about two teenage runaways Nicky Marotta and Pamela Pearl who form an underground punk rock band The Sleez Sisters who gain a cult following after broadcasting their volatile songs and speeches on LaGuardia radio station. The climax of the film features a rooftop concert in Times Square. The story was based on a diary that director Allan Moyle bought that had been found in a sofa which detailed the life of a girl on the streets. The film is controversial in that the studio cut out much of the lesbian content giving it a disjointed feel that Moyle admitted undermined the integrity of the film. Nonetheless the film has been an inspiration for those involved in riot grrrl (Kathleen Hanna, Bikini Kill) and staple of lesbian and gay film festivals.

This film will be introduced by Dr. Katherine Farrimond who knows her stuff about lesbian representation in film and culture.

***

From The Back Of The Room (with Q&A with Amy Oden)

7:30 p.m. Thursday September 13 2012

Director: Amy Oden

Many people have the impression that the Riot Grrrl movement in the mid-90s was the end-all, be-all of female involvement in DIY punk. This is definitely not the case! Plenty of amazing ladies prior to this era paved the way for it, and plenty of amazing ladies continue to help keep DIY together today. This documentary (released in 2011) chronicles the past 30 years of female involvement in DIY punk, and has interviews with over 30 women from across the country, ages 17 to 40. Race, gender, sexuality, motherhood, class, and activism are all addressed in this film, giving a more complete picture of how these women participate in the DIY community, and how it affects their daily lives.

Features: Slade Bellum, Cynthia Connolly, Kathleen Hanna, Kirsten Patches, Laura Pleasants, Cristy Road & Allison Wolfe.

After the film stay for a Q&A by Skype with director Amy Oden.

all together now kickstarter

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/753619488/all-together-now-women-in-music?ref=history

A Kickstarter campaign for All Together Now, a book of photographs and first person narratives/interviews with a diverse range of notable women making music today. It’s a bit of a hybrid - equal parts pop cultural anthropology document and fine art book.

For the last two years, photographer Audra Marie Dewitt traveled to select cities across America, photographing and talking to women in music, some of whom are pretty well known (Corin Tucker, Exene Cervenka, Amanda Palmer, Peaches, Miho Hatori) and some of whom are simply unsung heroes of their genres (Toody Cole, Jean Knight, Pamela Z). What emerged from these photographs and conversations was truly remarkable and many musicians opened up in ways that were poignant, surprising, and enlightening. The result is a collection of photos and text that is inspiring, and deeply infused with a certain ‘can-do’ spirit of perseverance and practicality.

s&s at holmfirth arts festival

Shape & Situate: Posters of Inspirational European Women #3 zine will feature as part of the Art Zines display at Holmfirth Arts Festival, Holmfirth, Yorkshire, UK.

The zine display/library will be open on the Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays of the festival run (14th-24th June 2012).

More info here: http://www.holmfirthartsfestival.co.uk/event-detail/event-12-89.html

More about the festival: Holmfirth Arts Festival is eleven days of music, art, comedy, theatre, literature and inspiring things to do in Holmfirth and the Holme Valley. We celebrate the landscape of this beautiful part of Yorkshire, inviting audiences to enjoy events in picturesque village halls and churches, cafes and teashops, Holmfirth's atmospheric Picturedrome, up on the hills overlooking the town and in surrounding woodland as well as some of the more unusual places the town has to offer, like Th'Owd Towser, the old church jail. We have events in homes, in the street, and by the river. If you already know Holmfirth and the Valley, the festival is an opportunity to see it a little differently. If you've not yet discovered this lovely part of Yorkshire then June is the perfect time to visit!

fattylympics 2012

Behold! It's the Fattylympics 2012!

The Fattylympics is a non-commercial community event satirising the You Know Whats in East London, 2012.

It takes place on Saturday 7 July 2012, at Grassroots, Memorial Park, West Ham. It is free to attend and children are welcome.

The Fattylympics is organised by two fat activists living in East London, it has been paid for by a series of community fundraising events, and is supported by a handful of volunteers.

Charlotte Cooper, one of the organisers says: "We will be publishing the programme closer to the day but for now we can say that the Fattylympics will be an afternoon larking around in the park. We will have Opening and Closing Ceremonies, a Fattylympics torch and specially-written anthem. There will be four participatory events, plus performances and stalls. Egg'n'Spoon are the official Fattylympics mascots, and they will be making an appearance too. The Fattylympics is non-competitive and everyone will get a medal. We are hoping for an afternoon that is silly, relaxed and low-key."

Charlotte, on her blog (http://obesitytimebomb.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/reflecting-on-fattylympics-anthem.html) also notes the important political backdrop, and protest element, to her organising: "I've been co-organising an event called the Fattylympics. This is a non-commercial, community-based afternoon of messing around in the park. It's fat activism and, because I'm always interested in mixing it up, it's about other stuff too, namely the 2012 Olympics, which is happening in, and destroying significant chunks of, my neighbourhood in East London."

More information is available at: http://fattylympics.blogspot.co.uk

Fattylympics
Saturday 7 July 2012

12.00-5pm
FREE!

Grassroots Resource Centre
Memorial Park
Memorial Avenue
West Ham
London
E15 3DB

Nearest tube: West Ham.

They have stalls available. Want one or know anyone else who does? http://fattylympics.blogspot.co.uk/p/stalls.html

Also, they are looking for volunteers: http://fattylympics.blogspot.co.uk/p/volunteer.html

Do help spread the word about this event by word of mouth, through networks of bloggers, Facebook friends, Twitter followers and the like.

film: kate bornstein is a queer & pleasant danger

There's a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds to finish making & release a film about Kate Bornstein, 'Kate Bornstein is a Queer & Pleasant Danger':

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/621261806/kate-bornstein-is-a-queer-and-pleasant-danger

The Kickstarter goal has almost been reached, which is such great news.

I interviewed Kate once, and she blew my mind both with the terrific things she had to say and the way she said them, and also in how open she was to me: she was completely wonderful and kind to me in a way that made such an important lasting impression. See the Kickstarter video to see how wonderful she is. I can't say enough good things about Kate. I am itching to see this film.


Synopsis of the film: Kate Bornstein is a Queer & Pleasant Danger is an intimate portrait of an artist that illuminates one of gender theory’s most influential minds. This film is not a biographical report on someone’s life, nor is it a linear story. Rather, it is an evocative study of a human being and an exploration of form and content that reflects the complexities of Kate and her world. Engaging with Kate’s personal and public persona, the film captures her multifaceted, sometimes contradictory, and always charming personality, which has won the hearts of people worldwide, while also alienating others. Kate Bornstein is a Queer & Pleasant Danger explores Kate’s artistic practice, her influences and the way she has created language, space, and permission for generations of people to live their lives outside traditional frameworks of gender, politics, and art. Kate’s life journey as a shape shifter, gender theorist, and survivor of great depression offers provocative new ideas on the nature of art, community, and what it means to be queer and transgender.

melissa febos's interview with kathleen hanna

Sometimes I needed to read something without even knowing I needed to read it. Like Melissa Febos and Kathleen Hanna talking about (creative/feminist) process/responsibility/integrity. Damn, did I ever need to read that. It's sent cogs a-whirring!

http://bombsite.com/issues/1000/articles/6583

For example...
KH: I think as women who consider ourselves feminists, there’s a legacy of responsibility, of feeling like there’s not enough of us and so we have to do things right.

I'm thriving from interviews and sense-speakers at the mo.

That whole thing about caring less about certain things, like getting it right, or what certain people think. YES.

best revenge's big queer spectacle

Sunday, 3 June 2012
15:00 until 19:00 San francisco, CA

"BEST REVENGE: A BEAUTIFUL FUCK YOU"

To kick off the month of June and the National Queer Arts Festival in grand, rebellious, queer, spectacular style

On Sunday, June 3rd, BEST REVENGE will emerge from the street corners, alleyways, living rooms, fire escapes, and back rooms of the Mission District. Over thirty artists from the San Francisco Bay Area, the east and west coast and everywhere in between, Mexico, London, Canada, and Istanbul will converge in/on four distinct venues to present their work on radical queer resistance and self determination.

Beginning at the (de)Appropriation Wall on Valencia Street between 23rd and 24th, BEST REVENGE will take its audience through the streets, en masse, through the Mission District, to experience visual art, performance, installation, and ritual. Queer collective houses will be turned into galleries; fire escapes will act as stages for a line-up of music, brilliant drag, and performance; the OPEN stretches of the Valencia and 24th Street Corridors (courtesy of Sunday Streets) will act as stages for spontaneous, surprise performance and public intervention/interruption; and, at the end of the evening, audience and artists will converge in the back gallery of Alley Cat books for an illustrious display of glittery rebellion and visual art installations.

SUNDAY June 3rd: 3pm-7pm
STARTING at the (de)Appropriation Wall: Valencia St between 23rd and 24th
ENDING at Alley Cat Books: 3036 24th St
For location updates and more information leading up to and on the day of, visit bestrevenge2012.wordpress.com and twitter.com/bestrevenge2012

- - -

The milestones spread across the landscape of the LGBTQ rights movement are undoubtedly worthy of acknowledgement. There is merit to the embrace of the agitation and evolution stirred by the Compton Cafeteria and Stonewall riots, ActUP, and Queer Nation, just as the repeal of DADT and the shifts in policy and public opinion of DOMA are noteworthy marks of progress.

However, recording queer liberation by our ability to confirm and be accepted by the dominant society ignores the fact that many of us are too queer, too perverted, too much, too poor, too brown, or too loud to “pass.”

What must we surrender if we’re expected to measure our achievements by how well we fit into a straight, capitalist, racist, classist society?

How do we build a future based on self-determination and mutual aid?

How do we create rituals to validate and celebrate our individual and collective accomplishments?

How are we already engaged in these processes?

Let's explore, discuss, and witness.

Curated by Caitlin Sweet and Lex Non Scripta ♥, BEST REVENGE features these magic makers (and more):

Malic Amalya, Micah Bazant, Sarah (sass) Biscarra-Dilley, Craig Calderwood, Rocket Caleshu, carmen, Finley Coyl, Dia Dear, Leah DeVun, Ariel Durrant, Larisa Escobedo, Fat Transfer, Jaye Lee Fishel, Johnny Forever, Claire Forsyth, Jason Fritz, Elitrea Frye, Naomi Rincon Gallardo, Max Garnet, Joolie Geldner, Ariel Goldberg, Nicki Green, Rik Haber, Nina Höchtl, LOVEWARZ!, Marilyn McNeal, Gabby Miller, Lex Non Scripta, Adee Roberson, Coral Short, Julz Simpson, Caitlin Sweet, Safak Sule, Dorothy Wang, Max Yuristy

- - -

The curators of BEST REVENGE believe that part of creating and sustaining community is recognizing and attempting to address the persistent economic inequalities in the art/world, ie., we want to offer each of our artists a stipend for all their time, energy, hard work, and fabulousness. Donations at all levels are appreciated at www.indiegogo.com/bestrevenge, as is any assistance in publicizing the campaign.

BEST REVENGE is part of the 15th Annual National Queer Arts Festival and is sponsored in part by the Queer Cultural Center

# # #

help lambeth women's project

From my inbox...

Today the Lambeth Women's Project (London, UK) has been given 2 weeks to leave it's home of over 3 decades. Eviction is set for 15th June.
www.lambethwomensproject.org/ To find out more about the services they offer, or to get involved in our work, please email us at lambeth_women_project@hotmail.co.uk

Sign the petition at: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/lambethwomen/

We feel that Lambeth Council should meet the needs of the community it serves. By supporting the valuable and unique services provided by Lambeth Women\'s Project, the council would go some way towards fulfilling its social contract with the 53% of its citizens who are women.
The purpose of this petition is to demonstrate the strength of public support for Lambeth Women\'s Project. You can show your support by signing this petition, which will be presented to decision makers to strengthen our case for:
A) A lease for the building = security
B) Recognition of the need for women-only services = safety
C) Adequate funding = maintenance and development of services
D) Policies that promote the social advancement of women = equality


Stockwell Primary School, who have been managing the property for little over a year who have also been obstructive wherever possible during this time. LWP has been delivering vital services to and for young women and girls (ages 0 - 90) in Lambeth for nearly 35 years.

After years of negotiation regarding the use of the space that LWP have been operating from SPS are reneging on agreements made and are behaving unreasonably on the eviction notice they have served on LWP. LWP suspects that the School is motivated by the desire to have a refurbished listed building for their sole use.


The deeper issues at stake relate the cessation of vital services being provided to young girls and young women in an area of extensive poverty and deprivation and which targets young girls and women across racial class and dissability lines.

Come and picket and come and occupy come and help LWP stay where it belongs.

We are holding a public meeting to plan actions. Bring banners, placards etc. We want to use the building as much as possible over the next two weeks and fill it with music, meetings, talks, food and lots of people. We are not going anywhere, this is our building in our community, we must make this clear.

Come and picket and come and occupy come and help LWP stay where it belongs.

If you would like to help in some way please get in touch. We need leaflets and banners. We would like there to be a demonstration in Windrush Square on Monday and/or Tuesday. If you can help with this let us know.

marinaomi interview with alison bechdel

What a joy!

Follow the link to read MariNaomi's partially illustrated interview with Alison Bechdel. What a treat. http://therumpus.net/2012/05/the-rumpus-interview-with-alison-bechdel/


It makes me wanna get back into connecting and talking with people about their art and their work more. I had a dream last night after reading this, about making new issues of Colouring Outside The Lines, but doing the interviews in person. I'm so inspired and enthusiastic at the moment, and itching to reconnect with that part of my brain that reading this interview reminded me of.

doris saledo exhibition in london

Doris Saledo’s exhibition of site-specific works at White Cube, Mason’s Yard (London, UK) until June 30th.

http://whitecube.com/exhibitions/doris_salcedo_masons_yard_2012/

Really wish I could get down to see this in person.

s&s at Victoria Baths Zine Convention

Victoria Baths Zine Convention (Manchester, UK) 19th May, 2012.

Brilliant building, brilliant event, brilliant people.

The exhibition, 'Posters Of Inspirational European Women: Taken From The Zine, Shape & Situate' was displayed at the Victoria Baths Zine Convention, Manchester, UK on Saturday.
The posters from issues 1 to 3 of Shape & Situate zine were exhibited for the first time all together, all 80 or so of them!

Huge thanks to all the artists for your amazing work. The posters, the exhibition, and the zines were all REALLY well received on the day, and there was a lot of interest in them. Your work is amazing, thank you!

Thanks too to all the amazing people who came to say 'hi' on the day. It was so great to see so many friends and familiar faces. I love zine events for that; the chance to catch up with people across the country by attending events like this is brilliant. Really great to see so many amazing stallholders again too (noteably Footprint, Black Dogs, Sugar Paper, Twigs & Apples, and Karoline Rerrie).

The Victoria Baths is such a wonderful venue, it was a treat to be in there exhibiting and exploring. http://www.victoriabaths.org.uk/
Thanks so much to Natalie for organising the day - it was a credit to you.

Thanks so much too to Amy for getting up at stupid o'clock with me to drive over and put the posters up before the doors opened. And thanks to Rose for being ace all day long.

Such a treat of a day, thanks to everyone there for making it so great.

The last copies of issue 2 of the zine that I had have now sold out following the event. If you're still wanting a copy, check the links on the right of this blog for places that may still have issues in stock.

Some photos from the event:

(p.s. Natalie interviewed me about the project, and it can be read online here: http://theshriekingviolets.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/shape-situate-posters-of-inspirational.html)

shape & situate mini-exhibition at ante, in shipley, may 5th&6th. what a weekend!

"It’s a familiar format: a bookfair, some anti-art, a gig, and hands on workshops. But in truth Ante (from the Latin ‘before’) is more than that. It’s about the person we were until we became buried by work (or increasingly, ‘no work’), by shopping, debts,... television and the all the worries and stresses and strains of modern life. So, if like us, you keep promising yourself that you’ll make time to rediscover that lost self, to be more creative, spend more time with friends, meet more people, experience life more fully, but can never quite make it happen, Ante is for you. Ante – or more to the point May Day – is when we collectively say to hell with shopping, with work, with debt, with worrying and with tv! It’s a day when we remind ourselves that a life always promised for tomorrow is a life robbed of today." (Ante blurb, taken from their site (www.ante-art.co.uk))

I took the posters from 'Shape & Situate: Posters Of Inspirational European Women' zine on a trip to Shipley this weekend for the Ante art event, to appear in a mini version of the full exhibition (the posters on the wall were accompanied by a folder [on my zine stall] full of the rest of the posters featured in all 3 issues of the zine).

Thank you to all the contributors to the zine for making the exhibition so great with your amazing work, you're terrific - the A3 posters looked really great in the space. Thank you too to all the amazing people I met on the day, and special thanks to Nick for inviting me to be a part of it all in the first place. Posi vibes all round! It's been a very special weekend indeed, congratulations and thank you to all the organisers.

I have fallen in love with the art work of Ricky Adam, and Lindsey/Pivo of Caged Bird Club as a direct result of this event! It was a treat hanging out with them both (it's so rare you see amazing artwork exhibited and then get a chance to properly talk to the folk that created it).

Above 3 images are of Pivo's work as part of the Caged Bird Club display.

There was so much great work and people there this weekend (besides the above), showcasing so many different projects and skills. Even the work shown by people not personally in attendance (such as Seth Tobocman) struck me.
Hopefully without gushing too much, there was such an overall great uplifting atmosphere of support and creativity.
It was great to see again Cath and James from Footprint, Sarah and Nick of The Print Project, Craig from Salford Zine Library, Rachael & Alice from the Museum Of Lies, and the crew from Knit A Bear Face.

But more than that there were so many people attending the event who came up to me to talk about the Shape & Situate project and exhibition. In particular there was a noticable amount of women from a generation older than myself who wanted to excitedly talk about the women depicted in the posters, wanted to know more, and who were keen to share tales of what the women on the walls and in the zine meant to them. Speaking to these women as they came up to the zine table I had out on the Saturday felt like such an important connective part of the Shape & Situate project that I'd never fully encountered before, yet it's something that's had the greatest impact on me; to speak to women about the women in the posters, and to see what they have meant to them was really powerful, and has made me even more aware of the potential power of visual and artistic social history projects.

The blurb (at the top of this post) that 'advertised' the Ante event is something that really did come true this weekend at the event for me, and I'm so grateful to have been part of something so great and something that has really re-charged me and my brain and my desire to do 'stuff'.

More photos from the weekend can be found on the ANTE flickr pool: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1952523@N23/pool/

the f word feature S&S interview

The interview I gave to Natalie over at The Shrieking Violet blog about the Shape & Situate poster exhibition that'll be hung at the Manchester Victoria Baths Zine event on May 19th has been featured in The F Word's weekly roundup of links, which is nice!

See here (5 links from the bottom): http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2012/04/weekly_round-up_70

In other news, I'm all set for hanging a mini-version of the exhibition, plus having a stall for Shape & Situate zines (plus others) at this weekend's Ante Art Festival in Shipley. It looks like it's going to be really great.
Facebook event here:http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/220690814699812/
Website here: http://www.ante-art.co.uk/