The interview I did with Sara Guindon of The Pin Pals has gone online at Pikland today. You can read it here: http://pikaland.com/2011/03/31/artist-interview-sara-guindon
I ♥ Sara!
Thursday, 31 March 2011
sara guindon interview
The interview I did with Sara Guindon of The Pin Pals has gone online at Pikland today. You can read it here: http://pikaland.com/2011/03/31/artist-interview-sara-guindon
I ♥ Sara!
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
section from interview in magnet
The latest Mecca Normal series in MAGNET Magazine has a section of an an interview I did with David Lester that first appeared in my zine 'With Arms Outstretched'. I'm really pleased that the interview is getting a new lease of life!
tales of the sissy
Aorta Magazine Presents! Tales of the Sissy: writing queer life in the city
25 April · 19:00 - 21:00
At: Million Fishes Art Gallery, san Francisco
San Francisco’s new queer reading series and open mic extravaganza!!
Please join us for the inaugural evening of San Francisco’s new queer reading series and open mic extravaganza: Tales of the Sissy. This cost-free evening of literary delights is sponsored by Aorta Magazine, and features the linguistic geniuses Jen Currin, Meliza Bañales, Amanda Davidson, and Anna Pulley. These writers, traveling far and wide from such exotic lo...cales as Vancouver, Canada, Los Angeles and Bernal Heights, will regale you with readings on this month’s theme: Writing Queer Life in the City.
The cast includes an exquisitely captivating poet, a zinester, film-maker, multi-media artist, social-media sass-master, and a spoken-word savant.
After the features, our audience will be encouraged to make sweet love to the mic. Stories, poems, flash-fiction, essays and maniacal rants which paint portraits of urban tribes, spin yarns of metropolitan adventures, lament the inability to avoid a seething hoard of ex-lovers as you navigate the concrete jungle, or otherwise interpret the theme in unexpected ways, are wholly encouraged. Sign-ups for the open mic portion of the evening are limited by time, and will begin at 6:45 before our
featured readers light up the night.
25 April · 19:00 - 21:00
At: Million Fishes Art Gallery, san Francisco
San Francisco’s new queer reading series and open mic extravaganza!!
Please join us for the inaugural evening of San Francisco’s new queer reading series and open mic extravaganza: Tales of the Sissy. This cost-free evening of literary delights is sponsored by Aorta Magazine, and features the linguistic geniuses Jen Currin, Meliza Bañales, Amanda Davidson, and Anna Pulley. These writers, traveling far and wide from such exotic lo...cales as Vancouver, Canada, Los Angeles and Bernal Heights, will regale you with readings on this month’s theme: Writing Queer Life in the City.
The cast includes an exquisitely captivating poet, a zinester, film-maker, multi-media artist, social-media sass-master, and a spoken-word savant.
After the features, our audience will be encouraged to make sweet love to the mic. Stories, poems, flash-fiction, essays and maniacal rants which paint portraits of urban tribes, spin yarns of metropolitan adventures, lament the inability to avoid a seething hoard of ex-lovers as you navigate the concrete jungle, or otherwise interpret the theme in unexpected ways, are wholly encouraged. Sign-ups for the open mic portion of the evening are limited by time, and will begin at 6:45 before our
featured readers light up the night.
mary tremonte ♥
Mary Tremonte's Queer Scouts Patch and Poster Set sold over at Justseeds is pretty high on my coveting list today :)
Monday, 28 March 2011
mixed race the graphic novel
Thea Lim and Elisha Lim are working on an illustrated documentary about what it’s like to come from mixed backgrounds. We’re doing it because that's what we are, and if you are too, we’re curious to hear about, write about and draw about you.
One Hundred Percent is an illustrated documentary about what it means to be mixed. Are you a mixed race person of colour? Answer our questionnaire!
http://onehundredpercentmixed.tumblr.com
One Hundred Percent is an illustrated documentary about what it means to be mixed. Are you a mixed race person of colour? Answer our questionnaire!
http://onehundredpercentmixed.tumblr.com
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
international alternative press festival
From my inbox from the ace Jimi Gherkin:
International Alternative Press Festival 2011
27 May - 12 June 2011
Friday 27th May
Festival Opening Party!
The Miller, London Bridge
Performance by Resonance Radio Orchestra; an ensemble of musicians and actors from Resonance 104.4FM, London's independent arts radio station. Collaborating with live illustration by artists from home and overseas.
Saturday 28th - Sunday 29th May
Alternative Press Fair
Conway Hall, London
A fair where artists will be exhibiting and selling their self-published comix, zines, art books, prints, radical literature and poetry. Three rooms of workshops and talks including Andy Simons from the British Library, screen-printing workshops and a reading area with Zine Swap.
Saturday 28th May - 13th June 2011
Exhibition
Orbital Comics, London
Artists, workshops, talks and more TBC
Monday 30th May - 5th June 2011
Exhibition & Events
New Gallery London
Including a film night, storytelling, poetry and zine sleep- over! With a live printing event at the end of the week.
Artists TBC
Monday 30th May - 5th June 2011
Exhibition/ Live collaborative art project
Sassoon Gallery, London
International Alternative Press Festival 2011
27 May - 12 June 2011
Friday 27th May
Festival Opening Party!
The Miller, London Bridge
Performance by Resonance Radio Orchestra; an ensemble of musicians and actors from Resonance 104.4FM, London's independent arts radio station. Collaborating with live illustration by artists from home and overseas.
Saturday 28th - Sunday 29th May
Alternative Press Fair
Conway Hall, London
A fair where artists will be exhibiting and selling their self-published comix, zines, art books, prints, radical literature and poetry. Three rooms of workshops and talks including Andy Simons from the British Library, screen-printing workshops and a reading area with Zine Swap.
Saturday 28th May - 13th June 2011
Exhibition
Orbital Comics, London
Artists, workshops, talks and more TBC
Monday 30th May - 5th June 2011
Exhibition & Events
New Gallery London
Including a film night, storytelling, poetry and zine sleep- over! With a live printing event at the end of the week.
Artists TBC
Monday 30th May - 5th June 2011
Exhibition/ Live collaborative art project
Sassoon Gallery, London
shape & situate 2 - submissions open
[EDIT: The deadline for submissions has been extended until the end of April 2011]
Are you from Europe? Would you like to be part of Shape & Situate zine #2 by making a poster on an inspirational European woman?
Here's a mini-blurb explaining what Shape & Situate is all about:
It's a zine of posters made by artists and DIY creatives within Europe, each poster highlighting the (often hidden) history and lives of radical inspirational women and collectives from Europe, as a way of connecting us with the past, the present and to help us to make sure that there will be a future which contains such creative and pioneering female action and activity. The zine aims to activate feminist cultural memory, to inspire in the present and to bring women’s social and political history to life.
The deadline for contributions to issue 2 is the very end of March 2011, would you like to be a part of it?
If so, and you haven't already, please do send me your ideas for who you'd like to make a poster of so that I can check there's no duplications. There's been some brilliant suggestions and submissions so far - thanks so much!
What I'm looking for:
- A black & white poster (to be emailed as a Jpeg, or posted to me so that I can scan the original if that's easier for you)
- The poster will be reproduced in the zine at A5 size (in case that affects how you'd like to present your work?)
- The poster will tell the history of or share information on a radical or inspirational *European* woman (or women's collective) in poster-form. I'm looking at European women as a focus with this zine, as very often a lot of projects similar to this one have been so American-heavy and I feel it really omits a lot of amazing European women from being discussed (this is not to say that women outside of Europe are not inspirational, obviously).
- By 'woman' I mean female-identified.
- Where possible, the poster will take as it's subject somebody/a collective who isn't already readily documented within our history. I would love for the zine to raise awareness of amazing women (living or deceased) who have largely gone under the radar, or who are within our own communities.
- All the information you want to share about your subject must fit within the confines of your poster so that each page stands alone.
I hope this is something you'll be interested in being a part of. Let me know if so - I'd love to hear your ideas!
Love Melanie xox
(m_k_maddison@hotmail.com)
P.S: The latest news on where Issue 1 can be found: http://remember-who-u-are.blogspot.com/2011/01/shape-and-situate-zine-latest.html
Are you from Europe? Would you like to be part of Shape & Situate zine #2 by making a poster on an inspirational European woman?
Here's a mini-blurb explaining what Shape & Situate is all about:
It's a zine of posters made by artists and DIY creatives within Europe, each poster highlighting the (often hidden) history and lives of radical inspirational women and collectives from Europe, as a way of connecting us with the past, the present and to help us to make sure that there will be a future which contains such creative and pioneering female action and activity. The zine aims to activate feminist cultural memory, to inspire in the present and to bring women’s social and political history to life.
The deadline for contributions to issue 2 is the very end of March 2011, would you like to be a part of it?
If so, and you haven't already, please do send me your ideas for who you'd like to make a poster of so that I can check there's no duplications. There's been some brilliant suggestions and submissions so far - thanks so much!
What I'm looking for:
- A black & white poster (to be emailed as a Jpeg, or posted to me so that I can scan the original if that's easier for you)
- The poster will be reproduced in the zine at A5 size (in case that affects how you'd like to present your work?)
- The poster will tell the history of or share information on a radical or inspirational *European* woman (or women's collective) in poster-form. I'm looking at European women as a focus with this zine, as very often a lot of projects similar to this one have been so American-heavy and I feel it really omits a lot of amazing European women from being discussed (this is not to say that women outside of Europe are not inspirational, obviously).
- By 'woman' I mean female-identified.
- Where possible, the poster will take as it's subject somebody/a collective who isn't already readily documented within our history. I would love for the zine to raise awareness of amazing women (living or deceased) who have largely gone under the radar, or who are within our own communities.
- All the information you want to share about your subject must fit within the confines of your poster so that each page stands alone.
I hope this is something you'll be interested in being a part of. Let me know if so - I'd love to hear your ideas!
Love Melanie xox
(m_k_maddison@hotmail.com)
P.S: The latest news on where Issue 1 can be found: http://remember-who-u-are.blogspot.com/2011/01/shape-and-situate-zine-latest.html
dishin the dirt: a queer compendium
From my inbox from the always amazing Lex Non Scripta ♥ :
((Please forward and repost widely))
Announcing:
Dishin' the Dirt: A Queer Compendium
- a zine to be released in conjunction with Dirtstar 2011
You've just created the most delicious meal, an unbeatably brilliant tincture, the best new planter for your balcony garden, the greatest scheme for sustainable queer separatism, a spectacularly penned commentary on food justice. Ain't it a shame if you don't share it?
Yes.
We want your veggie recipes, ideas, illustrations, diatribes, project instructions, clever plots, homesteading pointers, critiques, and succinct discourses on growing/sustaining/eating. Queerly.
The zine will be:
-digest sized – 5 1/2 x 8 1/2"
-black and white, with a fancy cover
-sent freely to each contributor
-released on the night of Dirtstar's performance spectacular: June 19th.
Please submit ASAP, or by MAY 7th, 2011
EMAIL questions/submission to artxxlex@gmail.com
MAIL to: Dirtstar! / 2501 Bryant St / San Francisco CA 94110 USA
*Please also include a one or two sentence bio and your contact info, if you'd like it printed!*
***
About Dirtstar
Despite queer histories of seeking less harmful ways of living –lesbian lands, radical faeire lands, urban queer collectives- creative queer visions of sustainability are often missing in the current heteronormative ‘green’ movement.
In a third and final episode, Dirtstar 2011 will Take Root at the Tenderloin National Forest / Luggage Store Annex with a Visual Arts Residency. This show is about honoring the lived experience of queers, honoring our process of having to shift through the detritus of this culture to find ourselves, our herstories, our culture, and each other. It’s about how we sustain ourselves, our culture, our aesthetic, our spirituality, and the world around us. The work showcased will consist of artwork that utilizes found objects, re/appropriated imagery, and recontextualized traditions—in the process revealing the way that this work pushes queer culture and art forward.
With how-tos, tastings, rituals, and closing Performance Night, Dirtstar 2011: Take Root will continue to showcase and share essential sustainable living skills that expand the world queers have been creating for decades.
http://dirtstar2011.wordpress.com
((Please forward and repost widely))
Announcing:
Dishin' the Dirt: A Queer Compendium
- a zine to be released in conjunction with Dirtstar 2011
You've just created the most delicious meal, an unbeatably brilliant tincture, the best new planter for your balcony garden, the greatest scheme for sustainable queer separatism, a spectacularly penned commentary on food justice. Ain't it a shame if you don't share it?
Yes.
We want your veggie recipes, ideas, illustrations, diatribes, project instructions, clever plots, homesteading pointers, critiques, and succinct discourses on growing/sustaining/eating. Queerly.
The zine will be:
-digest sized – 5 1/2 x 8 1/2"
-black and white, with a fancy cover
-sent freely to each contributor
-released on the night of Dirtstar's performance spectacular: June 19th.
Please submit ASAP, or by MAY 7th, 2011
EMAIL questions/submission to artxxlex@gmail.com
MAIL to: Dirtstar! / 2501 Bryant St / San Francisco CA 94110 USA
*Please also include a one or two sentence bio and your contact info, if you'd like it printed!*
***
About Dirtstar
Despite queer histories of seeking less harmful ways of living –lesbian lands, radical faeire lands, urban queer collectives- creative queer visions of sustainability are often missing in the current heteronormative ‘green’ movement.
In a third and final episode, Dirtstar 2011 will Take Root at the Tenderloin National Forest / Luggage Store Annex with a Visual Arts Residency. This show is about honoring the lived experience of queers, honoring our process of having to shift through the detritus of this culture to find ourselves, our herstories, our culture, and each other. It’s about how we sustain ourselves, our culture, our aesthetic, our spirituality, and the world around us. The work showcased will consist of artwork that utilizes found objects, re/appropriated imagery, and recontextualized traditions—in the process revealing the way that this work pushes queer culture and art forward.
With how-tos, tastings, rituals, and closing Performance Night, Dirtstar 2011: Take Root will continue to showcase and share essential sustainable living skills that expand the world queers have been creating for decades.
http://dirtstar2011.wordpress.com
oxford zine fair 2011 - apply for stalls
From my inbox:
Hi,
I'm contacting you because I thought you might be interested in having a stall at a zine fair I'm helping to organise in Oxford on Saturday 9th April. The fair is part of 'Editions Of You', a month-long exhibition celebrating DIY musicians and handmade releases, and there's a bit more info on the webpage here: http://ah.brookes.ac.uk/event/editions_of_you_at_the_o3_gallery_2011
I really hope you might be interested - if you are then let me know and I'll send you a booking form. Price wise - a 2x2ft stall at the fair will cost £10 (as cheap as we can make it, I'm afraid, without losing more money than we have), 4x2ft and 6x2ft stalls are available on request (probably about £15 and £20 respectively).
Also, I would be really grateful if you could help spread the word about this in any way.
Best,
Ellis (ellisjones@gmail.com)
Hi,
I'm contacting you because I thought you might be interested in having a stall at a zine fair I'm helping to organise in Oxford on Saturday 9th April. The fair is part of 'Editions Of You', a month-long exhibition celebrating DIY musicians and handmade releases, and there's a bit more info on the webpage here: http://ah.brookes.ac.uk/event/editions_of_you_at_the_o3_gallery_2011
I really hope you might be interested - if you are then let me know and I'll send you a booking form. Price wise - a 2x2ft stall at the fair will cost £10 (as cheap as we can make it, I'm afraid, without losing more money than we have), 4x2ft and 6x2ft stalls are available on request (probably about £15 and £20 respectively).
Also, I would be really grateful if you could help spread the word about this in any way.
Best,
Ellis (ellisjones@gmail.com)
Friday, 18 March 2011
born in flames: the publication
Wow! Jenny Woolworth's Women In Punk Blog just brought me the news of the 'comic book' version of the film Born In Flames that's being made by Kaisa Lassinaro.
It looks all sorts of amazing!!
They need financial help to get it published though, so you can pre-order and learn more about the project here: http://occasionalpapers.org/?page_id=1175
They're looking to raise £3,727 by 15 April 2011, in order to get the book printed by June 2011
It looks all sorts of amazing!!
They need financial help to get it published though, so you can pre-order and learn more about the project here: http://occasionalpapers.org/?page_id=1175
They're looking to raise £3,727 by 15 April 2011, in order to get the book printed by June 2011
i-sho shout out
From my inbox, from Emma Thatcher:
Attention all Feminists that are Artists! Performers! Writers! Activists!
We are looking for submissions for our art show....
As women we create and claim our own challenging art. Send us questioning and incisive women’s art, feminist art, images of how you critically see the world; conceptual art; dialogues about feminist art; art critiquing patriarchy. (Haven’t you, like us, seen enough sexualised images of women?)
I-SHO will present a exciting feminist gaze, as we are all formed by the images we create as well as those we consume.
73 Women are women artists using all art media to address issues affecting women and girls worldwide.
I’S, SHES, HERS AND OURS will be in Stoke Newington (London, UK) during JULY 2011
Deadline for submission is 5pm, 4th April 2011.
Please send up to 3 JPG images Under 1MG with a short statement (100 wordsmax), saying why your work is feminist/ challenging the notions of gender/identity and 100 words about you/as artist.
email to 73women@phonecoop.coop
Costs will be shared - the gallery is paid for
http://73women.webs.com
Attention all Feminists that are Artists! Performers! Writers! Activists!
We are looking for submissions for our art show....
As women we create and claim our own challenging art. Send us questioning and incisive women’s art, feminist art, images of how you critically see the world; conceptual art; dialogues about feminist art; art critiquing patriarchy. (Haven’t you, like us, seen enough sexualised images of women?)
I-SHO will present a exciting feminist gaze, as we are all formed by the images we create as well as those we consume.
73 Women are women artists using all art media to address issues affecting women and girls worldwide.
I’S, SHES, HERS AND OURS will be in Stoke Newington (London, UK) during JULY 2011
Deadline for submission is 5pm, 4th April 2011.
Please send up to 3 JPG images Under 1MG with a short statement (100 wordsmax), saying why your work is feminist/ challenging the notions of gender/identity and 100 words about you/as artist.
email to 73women@phonecoop.coop
Costs will be shared - the gallery is paid for
http://73women.webs.com
thirtynothing
Brooklyn Arts Exchange Presents:
thirtynothing
Written & Performed by Dan Fishback
April 8-9, 2011 @ 8:00 pm
April 10, 2011 @ 6:00 pm
Dan Fishback’s thirtynothing is a multi-media solo performance exploring the generation gap between gay men who died during the early years of AIDS and gay men who were born during those same years. A sort of “performance zine,” the show incorporates images of work by lost gay artists, images and drawings from Fishback’s own childhood, and stories from the lives of various gay men who lived, died, and grew up during the 80s and early 90s. Fishback underscores this monologue-based piece using small instruments like casios and ukuleles to paint an intimate, mournful and quirky portrait of gay life during and after a catastrophe. Marking both the 30th anniversary of AIDS and Fishback’s 30th birthday, thirtynothing memorializes the fallen while posing critical questions to all who survive.
Tickets: Advance (online): $12 General | $7 Low-Income
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/163045
At the Door (30 minutes before showtime): $15 General | $8 Low-Income
Direction Consultant: Stephen Brackett
Technical Director: Ardi Kuhn
Production Intern: Steve Drum
thirtynothing is being developed through artists residencies at Brooklyn Arts Exchange and Yaddo, along with a grant from the Franklin Furnace Fund. This grant was made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Major support of the Franklin Furnace Fund was provided in 2010-11 by the Lambent Foundation Fund of Tides Foundation, and Jerome Foundation.
* * *
Of the project, Dan writes: "thirtynothing" is probably the most rewarding project I've ever worked on. It's about queer history, and the unsung stories of gay artists who died of AIDS. In my research for this performance, I've encountered so many brilliant artists, I've talked to so many brilliant people, and I've witnessed profound footage of ACT-UP's greatest triumphs. The experience has been overwhelming and life-changing. It's an experience everyone should have, and they shouldn't have to undergo a huge research project to do so.
thirtynothing
Written & Performed by Dan Fishback
April 8-9, 2011 @ 8:00 pm
April 10, 2011 @ 6:00 pm
Dan Fishback’s thirtynothing is a multi-media solo performance exploring the generation gap between gay men who died during the early years of AIDS and gay men who were born during those same years. A sort of “performance zine,” the show incorporates images of work by lost gay artists, images and drawings from Fishback’s own childhood, and stories from the lives of various gay men who lived, died, and grew up during the 80s and early 90s. Fishback underscores this monologue-based piece using small instruments like casios and ukuleles to paint an intimate, mournful and quirky portrait of gay life during and after a catastrophe. Marking both the 30th anniversary of AIDS and Fishback’s 30th birthday, thirtynothing memorializes the fallen while posing critical questions to all who survive.
Tickets: Advance (online): $12 General | $7 Low-Income
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/163045
At the Door (30 minutes before showtime): $15 General | $8 Low-Income
Direction Consultant: Stephen Brackett
Technical Director: Ardi Kuhn
Production Intern: Steve Drum
thirtynothing is being developed through artists residencies at Brooklyn Arts Exchange and Yaddo, along with a grant from the Franklin Furnace Fund. This grant was made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Major support of the Franklin Furnace Fund was provided in 2010-11 by the Lambent Foundation Fund of Tides Foundation, and Jerome Foundation.
* * *
Of the project, Dan writes: "thirtynothing" is probably the most rewarding project I've ever worked on. It's about queer history, and the unsung stories of gay artists who died of AIDS. In my research for this performance, I've encountered so many brilliant artists, I've talked to so many brilliant people, and I've witnessed profound footage of ACT-UP's greatest triumphs. The experience has been overwhelming and life-changing. It's an experience everyone should have, and they shouldn't have to undergo a huge research project to do so.
all-girl bands book
Julia Downes is seeking the final few writers for her all-girl bands book. She's looking for folks into writing a chapter about (i) punk, post-punk, (ii) 1950s & 60s girl groups, (iii) grunge and riot grrrl/ladyfest/girls rock camp.
Full details of the book project and the editorial brief for what she's looking for are on her blog, at: http://evencleanhandscausedamage.wordpress.com/books
Full details of the book project and the editorial brief for what she's looking for are on her blog, at: http://evencleanhandscausedamage.wordpress.com/books
Sunday, 13 March 2011
girls who draw - magic show
Girls Who Draw invite you to their Magic Show, an exhibition of new artwork created for Solihull Gallery.
04 April - 11 June
Magic Show brings together a diverse group of women illustrators from the West Midlands and beyond including London, Leeds, Norwich and Edinburgh. Exhibitors are Jane Anderson, Mina Braun, Helen Entwisle, Ruth Green, Kate Hindley, Mary Kilvert, Sarah Lippett, Beth Morrison, Sarah Ray, Karoline Rerrie and Daisy Whitehouse, a mix of recent graduates, emerging and experienced illustrators.
Each illustrator has interpreted the theme of magic in their own distinctive style and created new work especially for the gallery. They have used the opportunity to explore hidden talents and different abilities which they don’t often get the chance to showcase when producing two dimensional illustrations. The group has stitched, paper cut, painted, printed and conjured up an array of unusual artwork to fill the whole gallery interior ranging from small artists’ books to hand sewn characters and large scale installations.
Magic Show accompanies the latest publication from Girls Who Draw, a group of women illustrators who have collaborated on a series of limited edition postcard books and exhibitions.
Magic Show Private View in the G1 Gallery Thursday 7th April 6.15pm – 7.30pm
Solihull Central Library and Arts Complex
Homer Road
Solihull
B913RG
www.solihull.gov.uk/gallery
Plus:
Illustration & Print Fair with ‘Live Drawing’ event at Solihull Central Library and Arts Complex Saturday 4th June 10am - 5pm
A chance to buy limited edition prints, books, handmade cards and other unique artwork from the exhibitors. They will also be running a ‘live drawing event’ where everyone is invited to come and participate in large scale drawing sessions throughout the day.
Plus:
Illustrators Afternoon Tea in the G1 Gallery
Thursday 14th April 3.30pm – 8.00pm
Join the Magic Show exhibitors for tea & cake. Networking event with informal open portfolio reviews led by London based illustrator Mary Kilvert www.marykilvert.com & local illustrator Sarah Ray www.sarahray.co.uk, an opportunity for attendees to share their work with the group, get useful feedback & encouragement.
04 April - 11 June
Magic Show brings together a diverse group of women illustrators from the West Midlands and beyond including London, Leeds, Norwich and Edinburgh. Exhibitors are Jane Anderson, Mina Braun, Helen Entwisle, Ruth Green, Kate Hindley, Mary Kilvert, Sarah Lippett, Beth Morrison, Sarah Ray, Karoline Rerrie and Daisy Whitehouse, a mix of recent graduates, emerging and experienced illustrators.
Each illustrator has interpreted the theme of magic in their own distinctive style and created new work especially for the gallery. They have used the opportunity to explore hidden talents and different abilities which they don’t often get the chance to showcase when producing two dimensional illustrations. The group has stitched, paper cut, painted, printed and conjured up an array of unusual artwork to fill the whole gallery interior ranging from small artists’ books to hand sewn characters and large scale installations.
Magic Show accompanies the latest publication from Girls Who Draw, a group of women illustrators who have collaborated on a series of limited edition postcard books and exhibitions.
Magic Show Private View in the G1 Gallery Thursday 7th April 6.15pm – 7.30pm
Solihull Central Library and Arts Complex
Homer Road
Solihull
B913RG
www.solihull.gov.uk/gallery
Plus:
Illustration & Print Fair with ‘Live Drawing’ event at Solihull Central Library and Arts Complex Saturday 4th June 10am - 5pm
A chance to buy limited edition prints, books, handmade cards and other unique artwork from the exhibitors. They will also be running a ‘live drawing event’ where everyone is invited to come and participate in large scale drawing sessions throughout the day.
Plus:
Illustrators Afternoon Tea in the G1 Gallery
Thursday 14th April 3.30pm – 8.00pm
Join the Magic Show exhibitors for tea & cake. Networking event with informal open portfolio reviews led by London based illustrator Mary Kilvert www.marykilvert.com & local illustrator Sarah Ray www.sarahray.co.uk, an opportunity for attendees to share their work with the group, get useful feedback & encouragement.
Thursday, 10 March 2011
kristyna baczynski interview for pikaland
The interview I did with Kristyna Baczynski has gone online at Pikaland today.
Kristyna is so totally rad and I loved doing this interview with her :)
Kristyna is so totally rad and I loved doing this interview with her :)
old zines back on sale
I was just having a bit of a sort out/clear out and found a stash of old unsold copies of Reassess Your Weapons zine issues 8, 9 and 10 (2008-2009)
Reassess Your Weapons was a collective feminist/queer zine from Leeds, UK.
I've put them on sale for cheap at my etsy site: http://www.etsy.com/shop/COTL?ref=si_shop
Reassess Your Weapons was a collective feminist/queer zine from Leeds, UK.
I've put them on sale for cheap at my etsy site: http://www.etsy.com/shop/COTL?ref=si_shop
Thursday, 24 February 2011
hexjibber's flash video lessons
Anybody wanting to learn how to make animations with Flash? The rather rad Andy Sykes, aka Hexjibber has recently revamped his website and there are now loads of video lessons for Flash, for free on there: www.hexjibber.com/learn-flash
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
devon smith interview for pikaland
The interview I did with Devon Smith has gone online at Pikaland today.
I heart Devon's work so much!
I heart Devon's work so much!
Monday, 14 February 2011
fragen project
A link to Red Chidgey's Feminist Memory blog, with info on the Fragen Project, a Europe-wide feminist archive initiative, covering 29 countries, aimed to select and digitise key feminist texts from the 1960s to now, making feminist texts free and available online: http://feministmemory.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/the-fragen-project
sigh, oh, that ocean thwarts me yet again
If I were there, I would like to be at these:
Looking at Music 3.0
Looking at Music 3.0, the third in a series of exhibitions exploring the influence of music on contemporary art practices, focuses on New York in the 1980s and 1990s.
At MOMA, New York, February 16–June 6, 2011
http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1147
- - -
WOMEN IN MEDIA WOMEN IN MUSIC PANEL
Mindy Abovitz (Creator/Editor Tom Tom Magazine) - Moderator
Kim Gordon - (Sonic Youth musician, Producer)
Marisa Meltzer - (Author of Girl Power: The Nineties Revolution in Music)
Shirley Braha - (Producer/Creator New York Noise) & Smith alum!
Saturday February 19th @ 2pm
Smith College
CC Carroll Room
(NORTHAMPTON, MA. USA)
Free//Open to the Public
Looking at Music 3.0
Looking at Music 3.0, the third in a series of exhibitions exploring the influence of music on contemporary art practices, focuses on New York in the 1980s and 1990s.
At MOMA, New York, February 16–June 6, 2011
http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1147
- - -
WOMEN IN MEDIA WOMEN IN MUSIC PANEL
Mindy Abovitz (Creator/Editor Tom Tom Magazine) - Moderator
Kim Gordon - (Sonic Youth musician, Producer)
Marisa Meltzer - (Author of Girl Power: The Nineties Revolution in Music)
Shirley Braha - (Producer/Creator New York Noise) & Smith alum!
Saturday February 19th @ 2pm
Smith College
CC Carroll Room
(NORTHAMPTON, MA. USA)
Free//Open to the Public
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
patty schemel documentary
Link to the kickstarter site which is seeing backers/funding for an upcoming documentary on 'The Life and Near Death of Patty Schemel': http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1311716422/hit-so-hard-the-life-and-near-death-story-of-patty
www.pattydoc.com
http://twitter.com/hitsoharddoc
www.pattydoc.com
http://twitter.com/hitsoharddoc
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
towards new forms of queer belonging? manchester feb 25th
From my inbox, from Humaira, who is kicking ass, as per usual :) ...
Toward New Forms of Queer Belonging?
A day of workshops, 11am -7pm
Friday Feb 25th 2011, in Manchester
Following on from the Interrogating Queer Modes of Belonging reading series, these workshops will challenge the ways in which gay rights are increasingly being used in nationalist, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric and ask what possibilities there are for an effective queer solidarity.
At the LGBT Community Centre, Sidney St:
1100 Welcome, tea and coffee
1130-1300 Belonging: reading group follow-on discussion
1300-1400 Lunch (on donation)
1400-1600 Coalitions and Solidarity: discussion
At the University of Manchester, A113 Samuel Alexander Building:
1700-1900 Roundtable Discussion between activist researchers working on homonationalisms and anti-racist queer solidarities; with Jin Haritaworn (Helsinki), Suhraiya Jivraj (Oxford), Adi Kuntsman(Manchester), and Jennifer Petzen (Berlin).
At Trof Deaf Institute (basement), Grosvenor St:
1900 onwards - Social for an informal continuation of the conversation... with buffet (on donation), performance from Jaheda Choudhury and Col Bashir, and dj blackrainbow.
the workshop is free to attend and open to all but please emailracerevolt@riseup.net to register your interest so we have an idea of numbers.
Check www.racerevolt.org.uk/events/home.html for updates and further information; this event is a collaboration between Race Revolt ‘zine and Manchester Queer Reading Group.
Please forward to anyone you think might be interested.
Toward New Forms of Queer Belonging?
A day of workshops, 11am -7pm
Friday Feb 25th 2011, in Manchester
Following on from the Interrogating Queer Modes of Belonging reading series, these workshops will challenge the ways in which gay rights are increasingly being used in nationalist, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric and ask what possibilities there are for an effective queer solidarity.
At the LGBT Community Centre, Sidney St:
1100 Welcome, tea and coffee
1130-1300 Belonging: reading group follow-on discussion
1300-1400 Lunch (on donation)
1400-1600 Coalitions and Solidarity: discussion
At the University of Manchester, A113 Samuel Alexander Building:
1700-1900 Roundtable Discussion between activist researchers working on homonationalisms and anti-racist queer solidarities; with Jin Haritaworn (Helsinki), Suhraiya Jivraj (Oxford), Adi Kuntsman(Manchester), and Jennifer Petzen (Berlin).
At Trof Deaf Institute (basement), Grosvenor St:
1900 onwards - Social for an informal continuation of the conversation... with buffet (on donation), performance from Jaheda Choudhury and Col Bashir, and dj blackrainbow.
the workshop is free to attend and open to all but please emailracerevolt@riseup.net to register your interest so we have an idea of numbers.
Check www.racerevolt.org.uk/events/home.html for updates and further information; this event is a collaboration between Race Revolt ‘zine and Manchester Queer Reading Group.
Please forward to anyone you think might be interested.
Friday, 4 February 2011
shakedown
From my inbox, from k8 Hardy:
Hello!
I am writing to ask you to support Leilah Weinraub's documentary, Shakedown.
It is a feature-length video documentary about the history of LA's black lesbian nightclub scene and it's rad and hot and smart.
We need this information for the world. Leilah is doing the kickstarter thing where you have to get all the money pledged in time (February 7th).
Check it out: www.kickstarter.com/projects/1889777212/shakedown
Hello!
I am writing to ask you to support Leilah Weinraub's documentary, Shakedown.
It is a feature-length video documentary about the history of LA's black lesbian nightclub scene and it's rad and hot and smart.
We need this information for the world. Leilah is doing the kickstarter thing where you have to get all the money pledged in time (February 7th).
Check it out: www.kickstarter.com/projects/1889777212/shakedown
Monday, 31 January 2011
shape and situate zine - the latest
'Shape & Situate: Posters of Inspirational European Women' zine
This zine is made up of of posters made by artists and DIY creatives within Europe, each poster highlighting the (often hidden) history and lives of radical inspirational women and collectives from Europe, as a way of connecting us with the past, the present and to help us to make sure that there will be a future which contains such creative and pioneering female action and activity.
Contributers include: Nina Nijsten, Jo Harrison, Flo Brooks, Molly Askey-Goldsbury, Sarah Francis, Stephanie Young, Erica Smith, Verity Hall, Jenny Howe, Red Chidgey, Deborah M. Withers, Siân Williams, Emily Aoibheann, Sarah Maple, Charlotte Cooper, Ralph Fox, Jay Bernard, Gladys Badhands, Isy Morgenmuffel, Rachael House, and Lauren Hutchinson.
The zine is available (if still in stock) from the following places:
Deny Everything Distro (Rome)
Ricochet Ricochet distro (UK)
Marching Stars Distro (UK)
Dear Soeurs Distro (UK)
Ms Valerie Park Distro (US)
Dead Trees And Dye (UK)
Ink Spot Book Shop (Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim, Ireland)
Canny Little Library (Newcastle, UK)
Good Grief! (Manchester, UK)
Folksy
Etsy
Submissions to issue 2 of the zine are now being accepted. Please do get in touch and contribute a poster:
[EDIT: The deadline for submissions has been extended until the end of April 2011. Please see: http://remember-who-u-are.blogspot.com/2011/03/shape-situate-2-submissions-open.html for details on how to contribute]
This zine is made up of of posters made by artists and DIY creatives within Europe, each poster highlighting the (often hidden) history and lives of radical inspirational women and collectives from Europe, as a way of connecting us with the past, the present and to help us to make sure that there will be a future which contains such creative and pioneering female action and activity.
Contributers include: Nina Nijsten, Jo Harrison, Flo Brooks, Molly Askey-Goldsbury, Sarah Francis, Stephanie Young, Erica Smith, Verity Hall, Jenny Howe, Red Chidgey, Deborah M. Withers, Siân Williams, Emily Aoibheann, Sarah Maple, Charlotte Cooper, Ralph Fox, Jay Bernard, Gladys Badhands, Isy Morgenmuffel, Rachael House, and Lauren Hutchinson.
The zine is available (if still in stock) from the following places:
Deny Everything Distro (Rome)
Ricochet Ricochet distro (UK)
Marching Stars Distro (UK)
Dear Soeurs Distro (UK)
Ms Valerie Park Distro (US)
Dead Trees And Dye (UK)
Ink Spot Book Shop (Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim, Ireland)
Canny Little Library (Newcastle, UK)
Good Grief! (Manchester, UK)
Folksy
Etsy
Submissions to issue 2 of the zine are now being accepted. Please do get in touch and contribute a poster:
[EDIT: The deadline for submissions has been extended until the end of April 2011. Please see: http://remember-who-u-are.blogspot.com/2011/03/shape-situate-2-submissions-open.html for details on how to contribute]
pictoplasma berlin
I am beyond jealous of anybody at all who may be going to Pictoplasma Festival in Berlin in April. Waaaa!
Thursday, 27 January 2011
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
a great bunch of stuff
Things that have made my heart go BOOM today:
My fine friends at Aorta Magazine now have an etsy site for all your purchasing-of-rad-arts-magazine needs: http://www.etsy.com/shop/aortamagazine#
One of my favourite people, Lex Non Scripta, has set up a website for her Argot Prints project: http://argotprints.wordpress.com/
Lex describes the project thusly: "Argot was started in solidarity. It took years of internal debate of how art might/can contribute to a greater good, and, moreover, how it might have some agency in supporting my ideas and political beliefs in a tangible way. I’ve been able to advocate for people, projects and organizations with volunteer hours, demonstrations, speaking and listening….but, rarely am I able to offer financial support. Argot is my attempt at filling that gap, while simultaneously nurturing my own creative inclinations."
Totally rad!
Siobhan McNamara let me know about the awesome sounding TURN THE LIGHT ON festival happening in Dublin. It's a festival of films and art by women, with a showcase and network day set for March 2011.
They're currently accepting local submissions.
My fine friends at Aorta Magazine now have an etsy site for all your purchasing-of-rad-arts-magazine needs: http://www.etsy.com/shop/aortamagazine#
One of my favourite people, Lex Non Scripta, has set up a website for her Argot Prints project: http://argotprints.wordpress.com/
Lex describes the project thusly: "Argot was started in solidarity. It took years of internal debate of how art might/can contribute to a greater good, and, moreover, how it might have some agency in supporting my ideas and political beliefs in a tangible way. I’ve been able to advocate for people, projects and organizations with volunteer hours, demonstrations, speaking and listening….but, rarely am I able to offer financial support. Argot is my attempt at filling that gap, while simultaneously nurturing my own creative inclinations."
Totally rad!
Siobhan McNamara let me know about the awesome sounding TURN THE LIGHT ON festival happening in Dublin. It's a festival of films and art by women, with a showcase and network day set for March 2011.
They're currently accepting local submissions.
Monday, 24 January 2011
cinenova fundraising campaign
Cinenova is a volunteer-led, charitable organisation dedicated to preserving and distributing the work of women/feminist film and video makers, artists and activists.
Cinenova are currently having a fundraising drive online here to raise funds to digitise videos and archive materials. Money will go towards supporting the distribution and preservation of historical, international women's film and video work.
Cinenova are currently having a fundraising drive online here to raise funds to digitise videos and archive materials. Money will go towards supporting the distribution and preservation of historical, international women's film and video work.
Friday, 21 January 2011
sabrina chap in the UK summer 2011
Sabrina Chap is coming back to the UK/Ireland this summer and is looking for gigs/shows/lectures.
Please contact her on: ertrecords@gmail.com if you're interested in setting anything up.
Sabrina wries:
This past year has been a great one for me! I started performing in the burlesque scene back in February, and took to it like a fish takes to water. I developed a crazy character called, Mama Schlapentickle and toured last summer with a family of burlesque and sideshow people. Usually I just sing really bawdy, sexy, dirty songs as a separate act. For some reason, one of my songs has sort of taken off in this arena and ladies have started stripping to it!
Musically- I've been performing more solo shows than ever, and finally released my album, "Oompa!" which has received some very nice press. I'm currently putting my next album together, 'We Are the Parade'.
And, as ever, I'm still lecturing and doing workshops on my book, Live Through This- On Creativity and Self-Destruction which features stories from women and trans artists who've used art to deal with self-destructive tendencies.
This past year, I've started to tour doing all three of these things- it's insane but it works. I'm planning a UK tour going out sometime in the summer doing events on all three,
I'm looking to
1. Feature in any burlesque shows
2. Do any solo music shows (for this any good clubs or like-minded musical acts to feature with would be awesome)
3. Do any workshops or lectures on my book, "Live Through This- On Creativity and Self-Destruction"
Please contact her on: ertrecords@gmail.com if you're interested in setting anything up.
Sabrina wries:
This past year has been a great one for me! I started performing in the burlesque scene back in February, and took to it like a fish takes to water. I developed a crazy character called, Mama Schlapentickle and toured last summer with a family of burlesque and sideshow people. Usually I just sing really bawdy, sexy, dirty songs as a separate act. For some reason, one of my songs has sort of taken off in this arena and ladies have started stripping to it!
Musically- I've been performing more solo shows than ever, and finally released my album, "Oompa!" which has received some very nice press. I'm currently putting my next album together, 'We Are the Parade'.
And, as ever, I'm still lecturing and doing workshops on my book, Live Through This- On Creativity and Self-Destruction which features stories from women and trans artists who've used art to deal with self-destructive tendencies.
This past year, I've started to tour doing all three of these things- it's insane but it works. I'm planning a UK tour going out sometime in the summer doing events on all three,
I'm looking to
1. Feature in any burlesque shows
2. Do any solo music shows (for this any good clubs or like-minded musical acts to feature with would be awesome)
3. Do any workshops or lectures on my book, "Live Through This- On Creativity and Self-Destruction"
Thursday, 20 January 2011
we are here: queer youth support project (Portland, OR)
We Are Here is a community support project for queer youth, based at Portland, Oregon's Q Center. Kids and teens are Here to speak out, LGBTQ adults are Here to help. We Are Here, together!
Join the Facebook group, We Are Here to add your story (see bottom of this blog post for more details on this)
http://www.pdxqcenter.org/wearehere/
http://www.pdxqcenter.org/community-youth-resources-page/
General information:
In October of 2010, the world was saddened by news coverage of a suicide epidemic among queer youth. While the LGBTQ community has long been aware of the struggles faced by our youngest and most vulnerable, the suicide crisis forced the issue and made it clear that our community needs to reinforce the support available to queer youth. Q Center partnered with SMYRC (Portland’s LGBTQ Youth Center) to host two community forums in October, at which members of the local community gathered to listen to queer youth speak about their everyday lives. The large, diverse crowd was encouraged to fill out survey cards addressing the needs of youth, and Q Center staff compiled the responses into a comprehensive report.
Out of these forums came a mission. The We Are Here project has two goals, each a reflection of the other. As LGBTQ adults who have passed through and beyond the difficulties of our youth, we must stand as examples of success, providing encouragement and inspiration. LGBTQ adults must say: We Are Here to help. Part of that job is offering to listen, to provide a forum for youth to share their experiences and communicate their needs. One of the greatest needs of queer youth is the desire to not feel alone, judged, and in crisis. To keep our youth safe and strong, peer community is vital. LGBTQ youth are saying to us: We Are Here, too, and we need to be heard.
The We Are Here project is new and evolving. Our starting goals are to continue the discussions that began in Fall of 2010, to initiate a campaign of providing resources to queer youth in the Portland area and Southwest Washington, to engage the attention of civil authorities (police, educators, and other people in institutional contact with youth) towards an understanding of the issues, to create and disburse media content by and for local LGBTQ youth, and to help strengthen the ties between existing youth service organizations in our area so that our community can provide increased services to youth.
Q Center Director Kendall Clawson has this to say to LGBTQ youth: “Each one of us has a story to tell about how we survived it all and our stories aren’t all about being our fabulously gay adult selves. In fact, most of the people I know grew up in small towns and long stretches of suburbia where images of urban, cool, artsy, interesting LGBT people didn’t really exist. In my era, there were no Wills, no Graces; Ellen was kind of straight, and Facebook’s creators had not been born. But we survived.” And now, it’s our turn to listen and to help- so that being young and gay, bi, trans, or questioning means more than just struggling to survive, it means being special, being wonderful, being young, and most importantly, being alive.
Contact Details
For more information, email: WeAreHere@pdxqcenter.org
Website: http://www.pdxqcenter.org/wearehere/
On the Facebook page,We Are Here, people (not just those in Portland) are invited to contribute in two ways:
Adults: What Was Your Queer Youth Story?
One of the great things about Dan Savage's "It Gets Better" video series is that it allows queer adults to revisit their childhoods and teen years, and relate them to youth that can understand. When someone has gone through the same struggles as you have, and they've grown to be happy and successful, it can be really comforting and inspiring.
Think back to what life was like when you were a kid...
When did you first realize you were queer/LGBTQ? Did you always feel "different" or did you change your sexuality later in life?
Did you have support?
Did you experience opposition, harassment, or family conflicts?
How did you get through it?
How has your life changed since you were a queer youth?
If you could say anything to a queer kid or teen who might be struggling, what would it be?
Thanks for sharing your stories!
Queer Youth Stories: Kids and Teens Post Here!
Tell your story here! If you don't know what to write about, try answering some of these questions:
- How do you identify? Gay, Lesbian, Trans, Bi, Straight, Questioning? Fluid? Only on Thursdays?
- Are you out? If so, what was coming out like for you? If not, why do you feel it's better to stay private?
- Do you have LGBTQ friends? Are they your own age, or older? Who are the people in your personal queer community?
- How are things at your school? Are the other students gay-friendly or homophobic? Does your school have a GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance?) Are teachers cool and supportive?
- What would make it easier for you to get through life as a young LGBTQ person?
- If you had any question to ask an older queer person, what would it be?
Thanks for sharing your stories!
Thanks to the ever terrific Mary Christmas for passing this info on
Join the Facebook group, We Are Here to add your story (see bottom of this blog post for more details on this)
http://www.pdxqcenter.org/wearehere/
http://www.pdxqcenter.org/community-youth-resources-page/
General information:
In October of 2010, the world was saddened by news coverage of a suicide epidemic among queer youth. While the LGBTQ community has long been aware of the struggles faced by our youngest and most vulnerable, the suicide crisis forced the issue and made it clear that our community needs to reinforce the support available to queer youth. Q Center partnered with SMYRC (Portland’s LGBTQ Youth Center) to host two community forums in October, at which members of the local community gathered to listen to queer youth speak about their everyday lives. The large, diverse crowd was encouraged to fill out survey cards addressing the needs of youth, and Q Center staff compiled the responses into a comprehensive report.
Out of these forums came a mission. The We Are Here project has two goals, each a reflection of the other. As LGBTQ adults who have passed through and beyond the difficulties of our youth, we must stand as examples of success, providing encouragement and inspiration. LGBTQ adults must say: We Are Here to help. Part of that job is offering to listen, to provide a forum for youth to share their experiences and communicate their needs. One of the greatest needs of queer youth is the desire to not feel alone, judged, and in crisis. To keep our youth safe and strong, peer community is vital. LGBTQ youth are saying to us: We Are Here, too, and we need to be heard.
The We Are Here project is new and evolving. Our starting goals are to continue the discussions that began in Fall of 2010, to initiate a campaign of providing resources to queer youth in the Portland area and Southwest Washington, to engage the attention of civil authorities (police, educators, and other people in institutional contact with youth) towards an understanding of the issues, to create and disburse media content by and for local LGBTQ youth, and to help strengthen the ties between existing youth service organizations in our area so that our community can provide increased services to youth.
Q Center Director Kendall Clawson has this to say to LGBTQ youth: “Each one of us has a story to tell about how we survived it all and our stories aren’t all about being our fabulously gay adult selves. In fact, most of the people I know grew up in small towns and long stretches of suburbia where images of urban, cool, artsy, interesting LGBT people didn’t really exist. In my era, there were no Wills, no Graces; Ellen was kind of straight, and Facebook’s creators had not been born. But we survived.” And now, it’s our turn to listen and to help- so that being young and gay, bi, trans, or questioning means more than just struggling to survive, it means being special, being wonderful, being young, and most importantly, being alive.
Contact Details
For more information, email: WeAreHere@pdxqcenter.org
Website: http://www.pdxqcenter.org/wearehere/
On the Facebook page,We Are Here, people (not just those in Portland) are invited to contribute in two ways:
Adults: What Was Your Queer Youth Story?
One of the great things about Dan Savage's "It Gets Better" video series is that it allows queer adults to revisit their childhoods and teen years, and relate them to youth that can understand. When someone has gone through the same struggles as you have, and they've grown to be happy and successful, it can be really comforting and inspiring.
Think back to what life was like when you were a kid...
When did you first realize you were queer/LGBTQ? Did you always feel "different" or did you change your sexuality later in life?
Did you have support?
Did you experience opposition, harassment, or family conflicts?
How did you get through it?
How has your life changed since you were a queer youth?
If you could say anything to a queer kid or teen who might be struggling, what would it be?
Thanks for sharing your stories!
Queer Youth Stories: Kids and Teens Post Here!
Tell your story here! If you don't know what to write about, try answering some of these questions:
- How do you identify? Gay, Lesbian, Trans, Bi, Straight, Questioning? Fluid? Only on Thursdays?
- Are you out? If so, what was coming out like for you? If not, why do you feel it's better to stay private?
- Do you have LGBTQ friends? Are they your own age, or older? Who are the people in your personal queer community?
- How are things at your school? Are the other students gay-friendly or homophobic? Does your school have a GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance?) Are teachers cool and supportive?
- What would make it easier for you to get through life as a young LGBTQ person?
- If you had any question to ask an older queer person, what would it be?
Thanks for sharing your stories!
Thanks to the ever terrific Mary Christmas for passing this info on
civil media 11: feminist media production in europe
As it turns out, I'm not going, but it's still rad as hell!
Call for presentations for the thematic stream "Feminist Media Production in Europe"
at „Civilmedia 11: Community Media for Social Change: Low Threshold – High Impact“; University Salzburg, 14. – 16. 04. 2011
The thematic stream „Feminist Media Production in Europe“ is part of „Civilmedia 11: Community Media for Social Change: Low Threshold – High Impact“ and will be organised by Rosa Reitsamer and Elke Zobl (on April 14).
http://wiki.civilmedia.eu/index.php/Main_Page
http://blog.radiofabrik.at/civilmedia/
Call for Presentations
Women have always played an important role in movements for social justice. Using media to transport their messages, to disrupt social orders and to spin novel social processes, feminists have long recognised the importance of self-managed media. In the past two decades an increasing number of women have taken the tools of media production into their hands; a vital social phenomenon that has gone largely undetected by members of the public, academia, and even sometimes the feminist movement. As a consequence of this invisibility, very little documentation and research has been done so far on women’s own media cultures, especially so in Europe and with a focus on current developments in the digital realm. To counter this gap and to explore the processes, effects, potentials, and limitations of women’s and feminist media production in Europe, the thematic streams focuses on contemporary feminist grassroots media in general and on blogs, E-zines, culture jamming, graffiti, r
adio, TV and digital archives in particular.
We encourage the submission of presentations (in the form of talks, discussions, workshops, exhibits etc.) by activists, media producers and academics on the following topics:
* feminism and anti-racism
With the raise of new media and communication technologies, women started to use these technologies for the production and distribution of feminist media. This demographics is often described to as part of „third wave feminism“, „pop feminism“ or „Do-It-Yourself-feminism“. How do feminist media producers engage with feminism and anti-racism? Can we identify a „new feminism“ in feminist blogs, E-zines, digital archives etc.? If so: How does this „new feminism“ distinguish itself from a Second Wave Feminism?
* local, transnational and virtual networks
The network concept, which emerged in the wake of the controversy over globalization and the globalization of media communications, is closely related to Manuel Castells’s theory of the “rise of the network society” (Castells 2010). The internet in general is perhaps the most obvious illustration of Castells’s theory. How do feminist media producers develop local, transnational and virtual networks? How are feminist media producers involved in various networks that seek for social change? Which kind of networks are developed in relation to the production, distribution, geographic spread, content and aims of their media?
* „alternative economies“
„Alternative economies“ are developed by media producers and consumers as an alternative to the global media conglomerates. Their primarily aim is not to commodify media; rather alternative economies focus on the exchange of knowledge and information, the spread of emancipatory concepts and activism, and they seek social change. How do feminist media producers develop and engage in „alternative economies“? What effect can they have? In which ways do these “alternative economies” make feminist media with a low threshold and high impact possible?
* DIY citizenship / cultural citizenship and political education
Feminist media offer a space to express opinions, experiences and political views, but they are also a space in which a critical and self-reflexive political education, and possibly a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) or cultural citizenship, could take place. Can we observe such an expression of DIY or cultural citizenship and political education in feminist media? How and under which circumstances and in which context can they take place?
Please submit abstracts with max. 200 words in English until Feb, 3rd, 2011 to Rosa Reitsamer rosa(at)female-consequences.org and
Elke Zobl elke.zobl(at)sbg.ac.at
Acceptance notification: March, 1st, 2011
Travel Costs: For conference participants from the EU, the organizers offer the possibility to apply for travel support. Please email Eva Schmidhuber regarding this: eva.schmidhuber(at)radiofabrik.at.
Registration: http://wiki.civilmedia.eu/index.php/Participants/Registration_11
Call for presentations for the thematic stream "Feminist Media Production in Europe"
at „Civilmedia 11: Community Media for Social Change: Low Threshold – High Impact“; University Salzburg, 14. – 16. 04. 2011
The thematic stream „Feminist Media Production in Europe“ is part of „Civilmedia 11: Community Media for Social Change: Low Threshold – High Impact“ and will be organised by Rosa Reitsamer and Elke Zobl (on April 14).
http://wiki.civilmedia.eu/index.php/Main_Page
http://blog.radiofabrik.at/civilmedia/
Call for Presentations
Women have always played an important role in movements for social justice. Using media to transport their messages, to disrupt social orders and to spin novel social processes, feminists have long recognised the importance of self-managed media. In the past two decades an increasing number of women have taken the tools of media production into their hands; a vital social phenomenon that has gone largely undetected by members of the public, academia, and even sometimes the feminist movement. As a consequence of this invisibility, very little documentation and research has been done so far on women’s own media cultures, especially so in Europe and with a focus on current developments in the digital realm. To counter this gap and to explore the processes, effects, potentials, and limitations of women’s and feminist media production in Europe, the thematic streams focuses on contemporary feminist grassroots media in general and on blogs, E-zines, culture jamming, graffiti, r
adio, TV and digital archives in particular.
We encourage the submission of presentations (in the form of talks, discussions, workshops, exhibits etc.) by activists, media producers and academics on the following topics:
* feminism and anti-racism
With the raise of new media and communication technologies, women started to use these technologies for the production and distribution of feminist media. This demographics is often described to as part of „third wave feminism“, „pop feminism“ or „Do-It-Yourself-feminism“. How do feminist media producers engage with feminism and anti-racism? Can we identify a „new feminism“ in feminist blogs, E-zines, digital archives etc.? If so: How does this „new feminism“ distinguish itself from a Second Wave Feminism?
* local, transnational and virtual networks
The network concept, which emerged in the wake of the controversy over globalization and the globalization of media communications, is closely related to Manuel Castells’s theory of the “rise of the network society” (Castells 2010). The internet in general is perhaps the most obvious illustration of Castells’s theory. How do feminist media producers develop local, transnational and virtual networks? How are feminist media producers involved in various networks that seek for social change? Which kind of networks are developed in relation to the production, distribution, geographic spread, content and aims of their media?
* „alternative economies“
„Alternative economies“ are developed by media producers and consumers as an alternative to the global media conglomerates. Their primarily aim is not to commodify media; rather alternative economies focus on the exchange of knowledge and information, the spread of emancipatory concepts and activism, and they seek social change. How do feminist media producers develop and engage in „alternative economies“? What effect can they have? In which ways do these “alternative economies” make feminist media with a low threshold and high impact possible?
* DIY citizenship / cultural citizenship and political education
Feminist media offer a space to express opinions, experiences and political views, but they are also a space in which a critical and self-reflexive political education, and possibly a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) or cultural citizenship, could take place. Can we observe such an expression of DIY or cultural citizenship and political education in feminist media? How and under which circumstances and in which context can they take place?
Please submit abstracts with max. 200 words in English until Feb, 3rd, 2011 to Rosa Reitsamer rosa(at)female-consequences.org and
Elke Zobl elke.zobl(at)sbg.ac.at
Acceptance notification: March, 1st, 2011
Travel Costs: For conference participants from the EU, the organizers offer the possibility to apply for travel support. Please email Eva Schmidhuber regarding this: eva.schmidhuber(at)radiofabrik.at.
Registration: http://wiki.civilmedia.eu/index.php/Participants/Registration_11
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
things that caught my interest today
The 'no one is illegal' I am a Human Smuggler poster project.
and
This article about Patricia Highsmith
and
This article about Patricia Highsmith
Saturday, 15 January 2011
bluff/blurry
More evidence of why Kristin Hersh (and her spot-on understanding and observation) has blown my mind for the squillionth time this month alone...
"If you watch your friends carefully, sometimes you’ll notice their features beginning to change; curling up into themselves, looking within rather than without. Hurt feelings or a distracting life event may precede this – sleepy disappointment, confusion. Sometimes your friend will accomplish something really impressive and then their features fall into themselves because the person feels finished. Or would like to before he or she gets boring or fucks up again."
"If you watch your friends carefully, sometimes you’ll notice their features beginning to change; curling up into themselves, looking within rather than without. Hurt feelings or a distracting life event may precede this – sleepy disappointment, confusion. Sometimes your friend will accomplish something really impressive and then their features fall into themselves because the person feels finished. Or would like to before he or she gets boring or fucks up again."
Friday, 14 January 2011
while a hostile relative re-writes my life: who is, and who is not, my family - by leslie feinberg
While a hostile relative re-writes my life: 'Who is, and is not, my family'by Leslie Feinberg
January 2011
[please repost]
In autumn 2010, Knopf published a “transgender” themed young adult novel. The author, Catherine Ryan Hyde, is an estranged relative of mine.
The analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of Hyde’s young adult fiction novel will come from those who are living the identities, and oppressions to which she has applied her imagination.
However, as part of the media coverage and publicity tour for the release of the young adult novel, Hyde claims much of her expertise and authority for writing her “transgender”-themed young adult novel as based on my life and identity.
The author is a relative with an axe to grind. When she claims me as kin in order to counter-narrate my life, I am forced to get up out of a sick bed in order to respond in writing.
Since I became acutely ill in October 2007, it has been very hard for me to write, or to speak. So it is opportunistic and unconscionable that a hostile relative would take this opportunity to re-tell my life in a way that changes my sex, mis-describes my gender expression, and closets my sexuality. Hyde also attempts to silence me politically as a revolutionary, reasserts the dominant legal control of the biological family, and ignores and disrespects my chosen family.
My verbal and written request for no further contact has been violated by my relatives numerous times over the last forty years. So I do not rely on them to respect my wishes. Instead, I have clarified and strengthened my legal papers, and I am making this statement public: My living biological relatives—Irving David Feinberg, Betty @Vance Hyde, and @Catherine Ryan Hyde—are not my family. They do not speak for me.
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) defines “family” as: “The person(s) who plays a significant role in the individual’s [patient’s] life. This may include a person(s) not legally related to the individual.”
Irving David Feinberg, Betty Vance Hyde, and Catherine Ryan Hyde have not played any significant role in my adult life. I have not seen or spoken to my parents in 40 years. Catherine Ryan Hyde was a child when I left home as a youth, and has only met me a handful of times in her adult lifetime.
Catherine Ryan Hyde’s narrations about my identity and early family life to audiences and media on her young adult novel book tour is not the first time that she or other relatives have narrated hostile accounts of my life--in person and in print.
Who is, and who is not, my ‘family’
My estranged biological relatives know very little about the decades of my adult life. They are strangers, by my choice, because of their history of bigotry and abusive behaviors toward me.
Yet the capitalist state often cedes legal power to blood relatives by default. So, I’ve had to struggle to assert legal independence from the white, patriarchal, heterosexually-modeled nuclear family into which I was born.
For four decades I have been forced to create and revise sets of legal forms for every state in the U.S. in which I’ve lived or sought medical care. These foundational documents state in clear language that I have been legally autonomous from my birth family since I reached the age of legal consent.
My documents state that Irving David Feinberg, Betty Vance Hyde, and Catherine Ryan Hyde have no legal rights in my life.
My legal papers also spell out clearly who does have the right to speak for me if I am unable to speak for myself.
Minnie Bruce Pratt has been my family, legally and in life, since 1992. As lovers, we have shared a home, life and struggle—in sickness and in health. We are domestic partners. We are civil union’d. Yet the state and federal government discriminate against our same-sex economic family unit by denying more than a thousand of the benefits that recognition of same-sex rights as a civil “marriage” certificate would provide.
Because I am female, and in a same-sex relationship, I have to live and travel with legal documents that expressly state who is, and who is not, my family.
Even chosen family members who travel with their legal documents intact can find themselves barred from visiting their loved one in an emergency room, while vindictive relatives who are virtual strangers can proceed to the bedside to make life-and-death decisions.I carry a hospital visitation authorization, the new Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST), my domestic partnership and civil union papers, advanced directives, living will and last will & testament. In addition, I carry a copy of caregivers’ rights, and requests for secular-based care.
I have to legally state in paperwork that Minnie Bruce Pratt is my health care proxy, together with my attorney--who has taught issues of law and transgender. They have my powers of attorney. Based on legal documents that I’ve worked hard to prepare, my chosen family would speak for me if I were unable to advocate for myself.
Minnie Bruce and I both have to carry each other’s documents at all times, as well.
Catherine Ryan Hyde is attempting to undermine all my painstaking documentation of chosen family relationships, by claiming blood ties give her intimate knowledge of my life and identity, and the right to re-write them.
Self-expression of oppressions,
Versus bashing counter-narrative
On her author promotional tour, Catherine Ryan Hyde is developing an embryonic biography of my life--fictionalized and unauthorized—to which I give no consent. Her assertions are all easily found on the web in a google search.
“This is totally my story to tell,” Catherine Ryan Hyde publicly maintains. She claims insider knowledge, because, she says, she grew up with a “transgender sibling.”
She also claims that because I have written and spoken publicly about my own oppressions and life’s struggles, my life is now public domain for her imagination. This argument draws an equal sign between the right of oppressed individuals to self-expression, and the bigoted “voice-over” that contradicts and denies those oppressed identities and life experiences.
Hyde claims she learned acceptance from an early age because she “grew up” with a “transgender sibling.” However, she must admit she is either a virtual stranger to my life, or is maliciously re-writing my identity—or both.
Catherine Ryan Hyde appropriates the description of my life in order to contradict my identity. In her commentary, she co-opts my life’s journey, changes my sex, denies my pronoun(s) of choice, mis-describes my gender expression, and closets my declared sexuality.
I can say with certainty that if anyone claims “insider” knowledge of my life based on patriarchal blood relations--or claims to have been a long-lost “good friend,” or to have “dated” me long ago—in order to deny and obfuscate my life’s struggles, then I can guarantee you that the “love” is not mutual.
When a basher narrates my bio
The only authority any of my biological relatives, including Catherine Ryan Hyde, can muster to justify talking about my early life is that they were “there. “
But, those who take part in group beatings and gang rape of oppressed individuals are also “there” during assaults. That doesn’t give those bigots the right to “own” or re-write the biographies of those who survived their attacks.
Nor do bigots and bullies have the right to rewrite their violence against an oppressed individual as “loving” and “consensual.” Such actions are a continuation of the violent and prejudiced abuse; it’s trying to take over another person’s life; it’s attempting to control and define someone else, against their will.
“As some of you may know already, I grew up with a transgender sibling,” Hyde states--assigning a later 20th-century identity to my mid-20th-century birth.
“A transgender person is someone who is born with a type of birth defect, for lack of a better phrase,” she asserts. (People Profile; posted: xcell.paulmitchell.edu)
Hyde makes this pronouncement as someone who is not self-identified as “transgender.”
Hyde narrowly defines her use of the term “transgender” for her young adult novel character when she says that he has “not transitioned yet.” (my emphasis]
My own life’s journey and oppressions are different than those of her protagonist. To state or imply that my life’s identity is the same as Hyde’s leading “transgender” character pits my life and identity and oppressions against those of others.
See my writings for how I’ve defined my life’s journey, my sex, gender expression, sexuality, and politics.
So in having based herself as an authority on my life, is Hyde proclaiming my sex, my gender expression or my sexuality as biological “birth defects?”
In any case, she wasn’t around for my birth. As the youngest of three daughters, I was already about 6 years old when she was born.
Hyde was only about 7 years old when I was 13, and I had to ask my parents to sign working papers, so that I could get a job after high school and not have to come home until it was time to go to bed.
Outside my parents’ home, and beyond high school corridors and classrooms, I was able to find wage work during the Vietnam War, and loving relationships. I found communities, struggle, my voice and pride.
What happened, in Hyde’s publicity-tour narrative of my life, to my out-and-proud butch lesbian life in communities and struggles in Buffalo, Albany, and Rochester, New York; Erie, Pennsylvania; St. Catherine’s and Toronto, Ontario—at a time when same-sex love was illegal and subject to raids by police and groups of bashers?
I later moved out of my parents’ home before the legal age of consent, despite the fact that I was still their legal ward. After years of living independently, I had to return shortly before my 21st birthday, in order to ask my parents to sign permission for me to begin taking hormones. I did not self-identify as transgender at that time.
Several years later, when I told my parents that I was going to stop taking hormones, my biological father ridiculed me and my biological mother sat silently in another room, her back towards me as I left. Catherine Ryan Hyde was nowhere to be seen.
My biological parents reportedly debated, for the second time in my young life, whether they should sign legal papers that would forcibly confine me to a psychiatric institution. I did not self-identify as transgender at that time in my life, either.
By suddenly publicly claiming me as kin, and implying that familial knowledge is a foundation for her young adult novel, Hyde erases my chosen family, in order to return me, inaccurately, as her “brother,” back as a 20-year-old still under the legal control of the father-dominated, heterosexual, nuclear family.
I am not a daughter or a son to Irving David Feinberg and B. Vance Hyde; I am not a sister or a brother to Catherine Ryan Hyde. I could not be forced into those legal categories or those violent dynamics of group bigotry with these three relatives, even at gunpoint: metaphorically or literally.
Burying my life in fiction,
while I’m still living the non-fiction
After 20 years of respecting my request for no contact, Catherine Ryan Hyde called me and asked to meet. At that time, I thought she accurately narrated the prejudices articulated through group scapegoating in the nuclear family of my birth.
But when I agreed to meet with her several times over the most recent two decades, she just delivered more “family” horror stories: an earlier account of parents debating whether to permanently institutionalize me when I was a young teen; family members actually speculating, as adults, whether I might have been possessed by an evil spirit at birth; the patriarch of the family disowning me in his will; the fear of a family member that I might kill her children if I knew of their existence.
If Catherine Ryan Hyde, the willing messenger, answered the bigotries, she did not relate that to me.
I last met Hyde when she came to my 60th birthday party. I had hoped to spend one-on-one time with many loved ones that weekend, on the eve of treatment for long-untreated Lyme plus serious co-infections.
Catherine Ryan Hyde dominated my weekend when she argued with me for hours that the story of the Tutsi people in Rwanda is hers to tell. Her statements about the peoples of Rwanda were so racist, so apologetic for colonialism and imperialism, that I informed Hyde at that time that she was no political kin to me.
She continued to press by e-mail argument. At that time, I restated my request for no further contact from these living biological relatives.
Now Catherine Ryan Hyde is appropriating my life and voice in order to try counter-narrate it. Hyde, a coward who is emboldened with Knopf’s power and money behind her, is trying to bury my life in fiction, while I’m still living my non-fiction journey and struggles.
‘Crossing the street to start trouble’
In a web interview traveling the Internet, Hyde writes that she created a “transgender” character because: “I was so outraged by the violence and abuse faced by transgender people. The way someone will cross over from the other side of the street to start trouble. To get in their faces, push them.”
The fact is, however, that’s exactly what this biological relative is doing to me.
Hyde’s counter-narration of my life attempts to silence my adult lifetime of revolutionary anti-capitalist political writing and activism. She replaces my message of collective struggle and liberation with her timid appeal for “tolerance.”
Catherine Ryan Hyde’s story of my life and her relationship to it omit this real-life fact: She and her parents are not welcome in her “transgender sibling’s” home.
The only way Irving David Feinberg, Betty Vance Hyde, and Catherine Ryan Hyde can prove they’ve learned a lesson in acceptance is to respect my stated and written requests to stay out of my life--and the lives of my chosen family.
However, based on past experiences, I do not expect any of the three to respect my requests. And in this case, the bully pulpit of the public relations speaking tour is paid for and promoted by a major industry publisher, with money and media power.
As public relations, repeated over and over in publicity, on the web, and before audiences, this co-optation of my own life’s narrative is a form of identity theft.
I can only write this public message one time. I have suffered a serious medical setback during the time and effort it took me to write and post this.
I thank each person who has asked me if there’s any way they could help lift a burden from me in time of illness. I ask your help in circulating this statement from me into the public record.
I ask for help in circulating this message from workers in the publishing, and other media industries--from media for LGBT communities to Publisher's Weekly—from legal and library and medical workers, those who work as secretaries and researchers, bloggers and journalists, those who defend the rights of youth and elders, revolutionaries and all who fight for social and economic justice, my literary agency Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc., and my labor union--the National Writers' Union, UAW Local 1981.
I ask you to aid delivery of this message—on flat typography and raised Braille, in signed languages and spoken languages. As an internationalist and anti-imperialist I am sorry to be posting a message that I hope will be read around the world, and yet, I am only able to post my statement in the English language—the lingua franca of imperialism.
I ask help from some of the skilled and thoughtful translators I’ve worked with around the world in translating this statement.
Message to my chosen family:
I have had a very low quality of life since October 2007; however, I treasure the love in my life—the only riches I desire.
To my chosen family: I can feel the strength of your love and caring and support--even when there are so few words in the English-language that recognize the power of our bonds.
We are all unique. We don’t all share the same ideas. Instead, as chosen family, we are defined by our loving, mutually supportive relations. Our chosen family bonds are built on principles that aren’t for sale, including mutual respect, and a process of understanding through increasingly clear communication.
My caring circle extends across the U.S. and around the world, and each member of my chosen family can recognize a bashing, whether the verbal delivery is hard-knuckled or honey-smooth.
So I take this opportunity to publicly thank you for your support. And I’d like to also honor two of my relatives, who I do think of as family.
After rejecting mean-spirited family gossip about my sister Christie, I went to visit her in a nursing home on her birthday, shortly before her death. Because I will not co-opt her voice in life, or after death. I will only say that I talked to her about the way I felt that violent family dynamics pitted me against her. I learned a lot that day about how she felt about the role she’d been put in as a child, as well.
When we said our goodbyes, I hugged her as a sister.
I also want to honor one of my grandfathers; I never met either one.
I honor my grandfather who labored all winter long without a paycheck during the last Great Depression in order to stoke the furnace at the “poor house.” I’ve been told that when he later died, his funeral drew more people from the town than that of its mayor.
I have never taken off my hat for a cop, a boss or a foreman. But as my grandfather’s communist grandchild, I take my place in that gathering of respect--hat in my hands--to honor this worker, who demonstrated with his labor, his consciousness of the class truth that the union movement is built on: An injury to one is an injury to all!
January 2011
[please repost]
In autumn 2010, Knopf published a “transgender” themed young adult novel. The author, Catherine Ryan Hyde, is an estranged relative of mine.
The analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of Hyde’s young adult fiction novel will come from those who are living the identities, and oppressions to which she has applied her imagination.
However, as part of the media coverage and publicity tour for the release of the young adult novel, Hyde claims much of her expertise and authority for writing her “transgender”-themed young adult novel as based on my life and identity.
The author is a relative with an axe to grind. When she claims me as kin in order to counter-narrate my life, I am forced to get up out of a sick bed in order to respond in writing.
Since I became acutely ill in October 2007, it has been very hard for me to write, or to speak. So it is opportunistic and unconscionable that a hostile relative would take this opportunity to re-tell my life in a way that changes my sex, mis-describes my gender expression, and closets my sexuality. Hyde also attempts to silence me politically as a revolutionary, reasserts the dominant legal control of the biological family, and ignores and disrespects my chosen family.
My verbal and written request for no further contact has been violated by my relatives numerous times over the last forty years. So I do not rely on them to respect my wishes. Instead, I have clarified and strengthened my legal papers, and I am making this statement public: My living biological relatives—Irving David Feinberg, Betty @Vance Hyde, and @Catherine Ryan Hyde—are not my family. They do not speak for me.
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) defines “family” as: “The person(s) who plays a significant role in the individual’s [patient’s] life. This may include a person(s) not legally related to the individual.”
Irving David Feinberg, Betty Vance Hyde, and Catherine Ryan Hyde have not played any significant role in my adult life. I have not seen or spoken to my parents in 40 years. Catherine Ryan Hyde was a child when I left home as a youth, and has only met me a handful of times in her adult lifetime.
Catherine Ryan Hyde’s narrations about my identity and early family life to audiences and media on her young adult novel book tour is not the first time that she or other relatives have narrated hostile accounts of my life--in person and in print.
Who is, and who is not, my ‘family’
My estranged biological relatives know very little about the decades of my adult life. They are strangers, by my choice, because of their history of bigotry and abusive behaviors toward me.
Yet the capitalist state often cedes legal power to blood relatives by default. So, I’ve had to struggle to assert legal independence from the white, patriarchal, heterosexually-modeled nuclear family into which I was born.
For four decades I have been forced to create and revise sets of legal forms for every state in the U.S. in which I’ve lived or sought medical care. These foundational documents state in clear language that I have been legally autonomous from my birth family since I reached the age of legal consent.
My documents state that Irving David Feinberg, Betty Vance Hyde, and Catherine Ryan Hyde have no legal rights in my life.
My legal papers also spell out clearly who does have the right to speak for me if I am unable to speak for myself.
Minnie Bruce Pratt has been my family, legally and in life, since 1992. As lovers, we have shared a home, life and struggle—in sickness and in health. We are domestic partners. We are civil union’d. Yet the state and federal government discriminate against our same-sex economic family unit by denying more than a thousand of the benefits that recognition of same-sex rights as a civil “marriage” certificate would provide.
Because I am female, and in a same-sex relationship, I have to live and travel with legal documents that expressly state who is, and who is not, my family.
Even chosen family members who travel with their legal documents intact can find themselves barred from visiting their loved one in an emergency room, while vindictive relatives who are virtual strangers can proceed to the bedside to make life-and-death decisions.I carry a hospital visitation authorization, the new Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (MOLST), my domestic partnership and civil union papers, advanced directives, living will and last will & testament. In addition, I carry a copy of caregivers’ rights, and requests for secular-based care.
I have to legally state in paperwork that Minnie Bruce Pratt is my health care proxy, together with my attorney--who has taught issues of law and transgender. They have my powers of attorney. Based on legal documents that I’ve worked hard to prepare, my chosen family would speak for me if I were unable to advocate for myself.
Minnie Bruce and I both have to carry each other’s documents at all times, as well.
Catherine Ryan Hyde is attempting to undermine all my painstaking documentation of chosen family relationships, by claiming blood ties give her intimate knowledge of my life and identity, and the right to re-write them.
Self-expression of oppressions,
Versus bashing counter-narrative
On her author promotional tour, Catherine Ryan Hyde is developing an embryonic biography of my life--fictionalized and unauthorized—to which I give no consent. Her assertions are all easily found on the web in a google search.
“This is totally my story to tell,” Catherine Ryan Hyde publicly maintains. She claims insider knowledge, because, she says, she grew up with a “transgender sibling.”
She also claims that because I have written and spoken publicly about my own oppressions and life’s struggles, my life is now public domain for her imagination. This argument draws an equal sign between the right of oppressed individuals to self-expression, and the bigoted “voice-over” that contradicts and denies those oppressed identities and life experiences.
Hyde claims she learned acceptance from an early age because she “grew up” with a “transgender sibling.” However, she must admit she is either a virtual stranger to my life, or is maliciously re-writing my identity—or both.
Catherine Ryan Hyde appropriates the description of my life in order to contradict my identity. In her commentary, she co-opts my life’s journey, changes my sex, denies my pronoun(s) of choice, mis-describes my gender expression, and closets my declared sexuality.
I can say with certainty that if anyone claims “insider” knowledge of my life based on patriarchal blood relations--or claims to have been a long-lost “good friend,” or to have “dated” me long ago—in order to deny and obfuscate my life’s struggles, then I can guarantee you that the “love” is not mutual.
When a basher narrates my bio
The only authority any of my biological relatives, including Catherine Ryan Hyde, can muster to justify talking about my early life is that they were “there. “
But, those who take part in group beatings and gang rape of oppressed individuals are also “there” during assaults. That doesn’t give those bigots the right to “own” or re-write the biographies of those who survived their attacks.
Nor do bigots and bullies have the right to rewrite their violence against an oppressed individual as “loving” and “consensual.” Such actions are a continuation of the violent and prejudiced abuse; it’s trying to take over another person’s life; it’s attempting to control and define someone else, against their will.
“As some of you may know already, I grew up with a transgender sibling,” Hyde states--assigning a later 20th-century identity to my mid-20th-century birth.
“A transgender person is someone who is born with a type of birth defect, for lack of a better phrase,” she asserts. (People Profile; posted: xcell.paulmitchell.edu)
Hyde makes this pronouncement as someone who is not self-identified as “transgender.”
Hyde narrowly defines her use of the term “transgender” for her young adult novel character when she says that he has “not transitioned yet.” (my emphasis]
My own life’s journey and oppressions are different than those of her protagonist. To state or imply that my life’s identity is the same as Hyde’s leading “transgender” character pits my life and identity and oppressions against those of others.
See my writings for how I’ve defined my life’s journey, my sex, gender expression, sexuality, and politics.
So in having based herself as an authority on my life, is Hyde proclaiming my sex, my gender expression or my sexuality as biological “birth defects?”
In any case, she wasn’t around for my birth. As the youngest of three daughters, I was already about 6 years old when she was born.
Hyde was only about 7 years old when I was 13, and I had to ask my parents to sign working papers, so that I could get a job after high school and not have to come home until it was time to go to bed.
Outside my parents’ home, and beyond high school corridors and classrooms, I was able to find wage work during the Vietnam War, and loving relationships. I found communities, struggle, my voice and pride.
What happened, in Hyde’s publicity-tour narrative of my life, to my out-and-proud butch lesbian life in communities and struggles in Buffalo, Albany, and Rochester, New York; Erie, Pennsylvania; St. Catherine’s and Toronto, Ontario—at a time when same-sex love was illegal and subject to raids by police and groups of bashers?
I later moved out of my parents’ home before the legal age of consent, despite the fact that I was still their legal ward. After years of living independently, I had to return shortly before my 21st birthday, in order to ask my parents to sign permission for me to begin taking hormones. I did not self-identify as transgender at that time.
Several years later, when I told my parents that I was going to stop taking hormones, my biological father ridiculed me and my biological mother sat silently in another room, her back towards me as I left. Catherine Ryan Hyde was nowhere to be seen.
My biological parents reportedly debated, for the second time in my young life, whether they should sign legal papers that would forcibly confine me to a psychiatric institution. I did not self-identify as transgender at that time in my life, either.
By suddenly publicly claiming me as kin, and implying that familial knowledge is a foundation for her young adult novel, Hyde erases my chosen family, in order to return me, inaccurately, as her “brother,” back as a 20-year-old still under the legal control of the father-dominated, heterosexual, nuclear family.
I am not a daughter or a son to Irving David Feinberg and B. Vance Hyde; I am not a sister or a brother to Catherine Ryan Hyde. I could not be forced into those legal categories or those violent dynamics of group bigotry with these three relatives, even at gunpoint: metaphorically or literally.
Burying my life in fiction,
while I’m still living the non-fiction
After 20 years of respecting my request for no contact, Catherine Ryan Hyde called me and asked to meet. At that time, I thought she accurately narrated the prejudices articulated through group scapegoating in the nuclear family of my birth.
But when I agreed to meet with her several times over the most recent two decades, she just delivered more “family” horror stories: an earlier account of parents debating whether to permanently institutionalize me when I was a young teen; family members actually speculating, as adults, whether I might have been possessed by an evil spirit at birth; the patriarch of the family disowning me in his will; the fear of a family member that I might kill her children if I knew of their existence.
If Catherine Ryan Hyde, the willing messenger, answered the bigotries, she did not relate that to me.
I last met Hyde when she came to my 60th birthday party. I had hoped to spend one-on-one time with many loved ones that weekend, on the eve of treatment for long-untreated Lyme plus serious co-infections.
Catherine Ryan Hyde dominated my weekend when she argued with me for hours that the story of the Tutsi people in Rwanda is hers to tell. Her statements about the peoples of Rwanda were so racist, so apologetic for colonialism and imperialism, that I informed Hyde at that time that she was no political kin to me.
She continued to press by e-mail argument. At that time, I restated my request for no further contact from these living biological relatives.
Now Catherine Ryan Hyde is appropriating my life and voice in order to try counter-narrate it. Hyde, a coward who is emboldened with Knopf’s power and money behind her, is trying to bury my life in fiction, while I’m still living my non-fiction journey and struggles.
‘Crossing the street to start trouble’
In a web interview traveling the Internet, Hyde writes that she created a “transgender” character because: “I was so outraged by the violence and abuse faced by transgender people. The way someone will cross over from the other side of the street to start trouble. To get in their faces, push them.”
The fact is, however, that’s exactly what this biological relative is doing to me.
Hyde’s counter-narration of my life attempts to silence my adult lifetime of revolutionary anti-capitalist political writing and activism. She replaces my message of collective struggle and liberation with her timid appeal for “tolerance.”
Catherine Ryan Hyde’s story of my life and her relationship to it omit this real-life fact: She and her parents are not welcome in her “transgender sibling’s” home.
The only way Irving David Feinberg, Betty Vance Hyde, and Catherine Ryan Hyde can prove they’ve learned a lesson in acceptance is to respect my stated and written requests to stay out of my life--and the lives of my chosen family.
However, based on past experiences, I do not expect any of the three to respect my requests. And in this case, the bully pulpit of the public relations speaking tour is paid for and promoted by a major industry publisher, with money and media power.
As public relations, repeated over and over in publicity, on the web, and before audiences, this co-optation of my own life’s narrative is a form of identity theft.
I can only write this public message one time. I have suffered a serious medical setback during the time and effort it took me to write and post this.
I thank each person who has asked me if there’s any way they could help lift a burden from me in time of illness. I ask your help in circulating this statement from me into the public record.
I ask for help in circulating this message from workers in the publishing, and other media industries--from media for LGBT communities to Publisher's Weekly—from legal and library and medical workers, those who work as secretaries and researchers, bloggers and journalists, those who defend the rights of youth and elders, revolutionaries and all who fight for social and economic justice, my literary agency Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc., and my labor union--the National Writers' Union, UAW Local 1981.
I ask you to aid delivery of this message—on flat typography and raised Braille, in signed languages and spoken languages. As an internationalist and anti-imperialist I am sorry to be posting a message that I hope will be read around the world, and yet, I am only able to post my statement in the English language—the lingua franca of imperialism.
I ask help from some of the skilled and thoughtful translators I’ve worked with around the world in translating this statement.
Message to my chosen family:
I have had a very low quality of life since October 2007; however, I treasure the love in my life—the only riches I desire.
To my chosen family: I can feel the strength of your love and caring and support--even when there are so few words in the English-language that recognize the power of our bonds.
We are all unique. We don’t all share the same ideas. Instead, as chosen family, we are defined by our loving, mutually supportive relations. Our chosen family bonds are built on principles that aren’t for sale, including mutual respect, and a process of understanding through increasingly clear communication.
My caring circle extends across the U.S. and around the world, and each member of my chosen family can recognize a bashing, whether the verbal delivery is hard-knuckled or honey-smooth.
So I take this opportunity to publicly thank you for your support. And I’d like to also honor two of my relatives, who I do think of as family.
After rejecting mean-spirited family gossip about my sister Christie, I went to visit her in a nursing home on her birthday, shortly before her death. Because I will not co-opt her voice in life, or after death. I will only say that I talked to her about the way I felt that violent family dynamics pitted me against her. I learned a lot that day about how she felt about the role she’d been put in as a child, as well.
When we said our goodbyes, I hugged her as a sister.
I also want to honor one of my grandfathers; I never met either one.
I honor my grandfather who labored all winter long without a paycheck during the last Great Depression in order to stoke the furnace at the “poor house.” I’ve been told that when he later died, his funeral drew more people from the town than that of its mayor.
I have never taken off my hat for a cop, a boss or a foreman. But as my grandfather’s communist grandchild, I take my place in that gathering of respect--hat in my hands--to honor this worker, who demonstrated with his labor, his consciousness of the class truth that the union movement is built on: An injury to one is an injury to all!
Monday, 10 January 2011
73 women feminist art exhibition july 2011, london
from my inbox...
RE: 73 Women - Feminist Art Exhibition (July, 2011)
If you are interested in being informed about this event, In Stoke Newington, London, UK, please email: 73women@phonecoop.coop
Please forward information to any artists and feminists who may be interested and ask them to send a one line (yes only one line!) email, and we will put them on the email list.
Thank you, Banu Cansever, Caroline Halliday, Zoe Clifford from 73 Women
This is not a call out for work, please do NOT send images or other details to this address, at this point.
Brief outline
73 Women is a women's art trail along the route of the 73 bus, from Tottenham Court Road to Tottenham. Between 5 and 7 cafes, venues and galleries are involved. Each venue will arrange their own show based on this theme. Some of the venues may choose to have specific focuses, e.g. Turkish, lesbian or black women artists.
At The Gallery, Stoke Newington, (in the middle of the art trail) we will have a Feminist Art Show, No Compromise, (title not yet confirmed). We expect about 40 artists to be involved, all media.
We plan to have a projector show in addition to work in the gallery space.
All feminist/women artists encouraged to contact us.
There will be some costs involved unless we are able to secure funding.
We will answer your queries at a later date. Thanks.
RE: 73 Women - Feminist Art Exhibition (July, 2011)
If you are interested in being informed about this event, In Stoke Newington, London, UK, please email: 73women@phonecoop.coop
Please forward information to any artists and feminists who may be interested and ask them to send a one line (yes only one line!) email, and we will put them on the email list.
Thank you, Banu Cansever, Caroline Halliday, Zoe Clifford from 73 Women
This is not a call out for work, please do NOT send images or other details to this address, at this point.
Brief outline
73 Women is a women's art trail along the route of the 73 bus, from Tottenham Court Road to Tottenham. Between 5 and 7 cafes, venues and galleries are involved. Each venue will arrange their own show based on this theme. Some of the venues may choose to have specific focuses, e.g. Turkish, lesbian or black women artists.
At The Gallery, Stoke Newington, (in the middle of the art trail) we will have a Feminist Art Show, No Compromise, (title not yet confirmed). We expect about 40 artists to be involved, all media.
We plan to have a projector show in addition to work in the gallery space.
All feminist/women artists encouraged to contact us.
There will be some costs involved unless we are able to secure funding.
We will answer your queries at a later date. Thanks.
Saturday, 8 January 2011
yes and yes, thank you for the inspiration ladies
Mel Stringer's Mantra for 2011, and Favianna Rodriguez's piece about that need to simplify her unsustainable pace of life both fill me with more hope for myself in this new year.
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
redykeulous
If I were to play a game of list-as-many-totally-inspiring-and-rad-people-in-one-press-release-who-are-all-exhibiting-together, it may just look a little something like this wondrousness:
INVISIBLE-EXPORTS is pleased to present Readykeulous: The Hurtful Healer: The Correspondance Issue, an exhibition by Ridykeulous. Participating artists include, but are not limited to, Ali Liebegott, Allyson Mitchell, Bernadette Mayer, Carolee Schneeman, Catherine Lord, Chuck Nanney, Daniel Feinberg & Rhyne Piggot, David Wojnarowicz, Dr. Weeks, Eileen Myles, Gary Gissler, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Glen Fogel, Harmony Hammond, I.U.D. (Lizzi Bougatsos & Sadie Laska), Jack Smith, Jibz Cameron aka Dynasty Handbag, K8 Hardy, Kara Walker, Kathe Burkhart, Kathleen Hanna, Kathy Acker/Dennis Cooper, Laura Parnes, Leidy Churchman, Louise Fishman, Mike Albo, Nao Bustamente, Nicola Tyson, Simon Fujiwara, Tobi Vail, William Powhida, Zackary Drucker, Zoe Leonard and other selections from the patriARCHIVES.
Founded in 2005 by A.L. Steiner and Nicole Eisenman, Ridykeulous has appeared at the Kitchen, New York; Leo Koenig Projekte, New York; Bronx Museum, New York; MoMA PS1, New York; and Participant Inc., New York, among others.
EDIT:
Wowzers: http://dailyserving.com/2011/02/leave-it-to-beaver-ridykeulous-at-invisible-exports
INVISIBLE-EXPORTS is pleased to present Readykeulous: The Hurtful Healer: The Correspondance Issue, an exhibition by Ridykeulous. Participating artists include, but are not limited to, Ali Liebegott, Allyson Mitchell, Bernadette Mayer, Carolee Schneeman, Catherine Lord, Chuck Nanney, Daniel Feinberg & Rhyne Piggot, David Wojnarowicz, Dr. Weeks, Eileen Myles, Gary Gissler, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Glen Fogel, Harmony Hammond, I.U.D. (Lizzi Bougatsos & Sadie Laska), Jack Smith, Jibz Cameron aka Dynasty Handbag, K8 Hardy, Kara Walker, Kathe Burkhart, Kathleen Hanna, Kathy Acker/Dennis Cooper, Laura Parnes, Leidy Churchman, Louise Fishman, Mike Albo, Nao Bustamente, Nicola Tyson, Simon Fujiwara, Tobi Vail, William Powhida, Zackary Drucker, Zoe Leonard and other selections from the patriARCHIVES.
Founded in 2005 by A.L. Steiner and Nicole Eisenman, Ridykeulous has appeared at the Kitchen, New York; Leo Koenig Projekte, New York; Bronx Museum, New York; MoMA PS1, New York; and Participant Inc., New York, among others.
EDIT:
Wowzers: http://dailyserving.com/2011/02/leave-it-to-beaver-ridykeulous-at-invisible-exports
Monday, 20 December 2010
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Friday, 10 December 2010
european alternative press fair
from my inbox...
The European Alternative Press Fair – Friday 27 May 2011 to Sunday 29 May 2011
Thank you for everyone who took part in last week's Alternative Press Fair, all the people who attended, who exhibited, who put on workshops and demonstrations, who helped promote and facilitate... in short to all who were part of a lovely day.
But wait..... You are all cordially invited to The European Alternative Press Fair! Starting on Friday 27th May 2011, continuing the next 2 days with a Fair at the Conway Hall in Holborn, London, with stalls, workshops, talks, etc. It's going to have artists from abroad showing the work they're doing over there, and they can see what we do over here! We'll be sending out details of table prices and so on soon, but at this stage we'd like to ask you to join in, to get in contact and help create the event.
As well as the 3 days we'll be running, for which we'll be looking for ideas or offers for running workshops and so forth, we would like to encourage others to put on their own events around the time, maybe gallery shows, music, etc., etc., so that both the European Artists and us will have a bunch of stuff to go to and enjoy, help promote each other, and put self-publishing on the map!
So come along and get involved and help try to put something good on for next May.
Email: jimigherkin@yahoo.co.uk or peterally@gmail.com
The European Alternative Press Fair – Friday 27 May 2011 to Sunday 29 May 2011
Thank you for everyone who took part in last week's Alternative Press Fair, all the people who attended, who exhibited, who put on workshops and demonstrations, who helped promote and facilitate... in short to all who were part of a lovely day.
But wait..... You are all cordially invited to The European Alternative Press Fair! Starting on Friday 27th May 2011, continuing the next 2 days with a Fair at the Conway Hall in Holborn, London, with stalls, workshops, talks, etc. It's going to have artists from abroad showing the work they're doing over there, and they can see what we do over here! We'll be sending out details of table prices and so on soon, but at this stage we'd like to ask you to join in, to get in contact and help create the event.
As well as the 3 days we'll be running, for which we'll be looking for ideas or offers for running workshops and so forth, we would like to encourage others to put on their own events around the time, maybe gallery shows, music, etc., etc., so that both the European Artists and us will have a bunch of stuff to go to and enjoy, help promote each other, and put self-publishing on the map!
So come along and get involved and help try to put something good on for next May.
Email: jimigherkin@yahoo.co.uk or peterally@gmail.com
queer modes of belonging reading group
Interrogating Queer Modes of Belonging
A Manchester Queer Reading Group Series
In collaboration with Race Revolt ‘zine
6pm Mondays January 17th, 31st & February 14th 2011
LGBT Community Centre, 49-51 Sidney Street, Manchester, Behind 8th Day Co-op/opposite All Saints Park.
Culminating in an all-day workshop; with various discussions, Jin Haritaworn in conversation with Adi Kuntsman, and Q&A 12-7pm, Friday February 25th 2011, Manchester
Check http://racerevolt.org.uk/events/home.html for updates
This reading series considers texts that address the ways in which gay rights are being used in nationalist, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric by racist organisations such as the English Defence League, politicians like Geert Wilders and even increasingly by gay activists.
Is it possible to show solidarity without patronising LGBTQI struggles elsewhere? How do we resist justifications for war on the basis of appeals to women’s and queer rights? Is secularism compulsory for LGBTQI people, and what does this mean for those who profess a faith? Does the focus on legal rights such as joining the army or gay marriage represent your idea of liberation?
All welcome, refreshments provided.
Let us know you’re coming and access readings by sending an email to manchesterreading@racerevolt.org.uk
Find a group near you or tell your friends!
As well as Manchester, the series is running in the following cities:
Brighton (brightonreading@racerevolt.org.uk),
Bristol (bristolreading@racerevolt.org.uk),
Coventry (coventryreading@racerevolt.org.uk),
Lancaster (lancasterreading@racerevolt.org.uk),
Leeds (leedsreading@racerevolt.org.uk)
London (londonreading@racerevolt.org.uk).
Email for details of dates and venues.
A Manchester Queer Reading Group Series
In collaboration with Race Revolt ‘zine
6pm Mondays January 17th, 31st & February 14th 2011
LGBT Community Centre, 49-51 Sidney Street, Manchester, Behind 8th Day Co-op/opposite All Saints Park.
Culminating in an all-day workshop; with various discussions, Jin Haritaworn in conversation with Adi Kuntsman, and Q&A 12-7pm, Friday February 25th 2011, Manchester
Check http://racerevolt.org.uk/events/home.html for updates
This reading series considers texts that address the ways in which gay rights are being used in nationalist, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric by racist organisations such as the English Defence League, politicians like Geert Wilders and even increasingly by gay activists.
Is it possible to show solidarity without patronising LGBTQI struggles elsewhere? How do we resist justifications for war on the basis of appeals to women’s and queer rights? Is secularism compulsory for LGBTQI people, and what does this mean for those who profess a faith? Does the focus on legal rights such as joining the army or gay marriage represent your idea of liberation?
All welcome, refreshments provided.
Let us know you’re coming and access readings by sending an email to manchesterreading@racerevolt.org.uk
Find a group near you or tell your friends!
As well as Manchester, the series is running in the following cities:
Brighton (brightonreading@racerevolt.org.uk),
Bristol (bristolreading@racerevolt.org.uk),
Coventry (coventryreading@racerevolt.org.uk),
Lancaster (lancasterreading@racerevolt.org.uk),
Leeds (leedsreading@racerevolt.org.uk)
London (londonreading@racerevolt.org.uk).
Email for details of dates and venues.
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
sounds of
Bildwechsel Glasgow presents: 'Sounds Of...'
16 December · 19:00 - 20:30
At: CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow
http://www.cca-glasgow.com/
A short-film programme of feminist, lesbian and queer music- and sound-related videos from the bildwechsel archives. Crossing genres, times and places, the programme is both a subjective selection of favourites and a look at the different techniques, themes and aesthetics of the times in which they were made (1979 – 2010).
More info
FREE
Full programme coming soon
16 December · 19:00 - 20:30
At: CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow
http://www.cca-glasgow.com/
A short-film programme of feminist, lesbian and queer music- and sound-related videos from the bildwechsel archives. Crossing genres, times and places, the programme is both a subjective selection of favourites and a look at the different techniques, themes and aesthetics of the times in which they were made (1979 – 2010).
More info
FREE
Full programme coming soon
Sunday, 5 December 2010
aorta funding drive via indiegogo
Aorta Magazine need to raise $3,500 to directly fund the printing costs for our upcoming 4th issue, and have set up a IndieGoGo page which is accepting (tax deductable) funding donations - all donations empower Aorta to keep recording queer art history.
The page is up at: www.indiegogo.com/Aorta-Magazine and there's all sorts of perks and incentives for those donating!
The page is up at: www.indiegogo.com/Aorta-Magazine and there's all sorts of perks and incentives for those donating!
G. B. Jones at Lexander in Los Angeles December 13th
The quite amazing G. B. Jones just emailed me to tell me about her amazing looking show in LA. Again, why am I this side of the Ocean?!?...
PAST PRESENT FUTURE G. B. JONES
1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
OPENING DECEMBER 13 2010 / 6-9PM
Lexander is proud to present, for the first time anywhere in the world, the most comprehensive exhibition of the work of G. B. Jones, spanning over three decades of representational resistance. The opening reception will be held on December 13th from 6 to 9PM.
G. B. Jones is a multitalented artist working in the areas of drawing, design, film, music, and publishing. She has been producing drawings since 1985 and her work has been extensively exhibited in both group and solo exhibitions throughout both North and South America, Europe, and Australia. Her work has previously been featured in group exhibitions in Los Angeles at Stuart Regen Gallery in 1992 and at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) in the 1990s and 2000s.
The current exhibition includes selections from a number of series of her drawings, including the Tom Girls (1985-2002), Crash (2003-2004), Symbols (2004-2007), and Excesses and Extremes (2007). The full series of drawings from Fonthill Abbey (2005), The Farm (2005), and Tribute to Felicien Rops (2005) are being exhibited. The current exhibition also marks the debut presentation of the Svastia series, which explores new territory in drawings such as That Dark in September and Monotheism.
LEXANDER 215 W 6TH ST UNIT 113 LOS ANGELES CA 90014
For more information, visit the gallery website at www.lexander.co.
PAST PRESENT FUTURE G. B. JONES
1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
OPENING DECEMBER 13 2010 / 6-9PM
Lexander is proud to present, for the first time anywhere in the world, the most comprehensive exhibition of the work of G. B. Jones, spanning over three decades of representational resistance. The opening reception will be held on December 13th from 6 to 9PM.
G. B. Jones is a multitalented artist working in the areas of drawing, design, film, music, and publishing. She has been producing drawings since 1985 and her work has been extensively exhibited in both group and solo exhibitions throughout both North and South America, Europe, and Australia. Her work has previously been featured in group exhibitions in Los Angeles at Stuart Regen Gallery in 1992 and at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) in the 1990s and 2000s.
The current exhibition includes selections from a number of series of her drawings, including the Tom Girls (1985-2002), Crash (2003-2004), Symbols (2004-2007), and Excesses and Extremes (2007). The full series of drawings from Fonthill Abbey (2005), The Farm (2005), and Tribute to Felicien Rops (2005) are being exhibited. The current exhibition also marks the debut presentation of the Svastia series, which explores new territory in drawings such as That Dark in September and Monotheism.
LEXANDER 215 W 6TH ST UNIT 113 LOS ANGELES CA 90014
For more information, visit the gallery website at www.lexander.co.
Saturday, 4 December 2010
Jane Arden Season at the Star & Shadow Cinema, Newcastle, UK
From my inbox, from the wonderful Charlotte Procter (season programmer of the following):
* JANE ARDEN SEASON AT THE STAR AND SHADOW CINEMA * 8TH- 16TH DECEMBER 2010
www.janeardenproject.blogspot.com
Jane Arden (1927- 1982) was a film director, actor, screenwriter, playwright, songwriter and poet. Her films are seldom seen, but her relevance in the history of Feminist cinema and British culture has received renewed interest.
At the Star & Shadow Cinema, we bring you three of her feature films and a rare short. This is a viewing opportunity not to be missed! This program is a continuation of the effort of the Jane Arden Project with the purpose that these works of art gain the greater recognition they deserve.
Wednesday 8th December, 7.30pmSeparation(Directed by Jack Bond, 1967, 89 mins)Scripted by and starring Jane Arden, Separation portrays the fragile complexity of its protagonist during a marital breakdown, through fragmented scenes, experimental, fragmented sequences. Set against the backdrop of 'swinging' 60s London. The soundtrack is by Procul Harum and light shows by artist Mark Boyle.
Sunday 12th December, 7.30pmThe Other Side of Underneath(Directed by Jane Arden, 1972, 106 mins)Jane Arden's violent and powerful film is an exploration into the mind of a woman labeled schizophrenic, whilst challenging the taboos of society. It is the only British feature film of the 1970s with a solo female direction credit and features a soundtrack by cellist Sally Pullinger.
Thursday 16th December, 7.30pmVibration + Anti-Clock(Directed by Jane Arden & Jack Bond, 1975 & 1979, 36mins & 92mins)Vibration is "an exercise in meditation utilising experimental film and video techniques" (Geoff Brown & Robert Murphy) “A complex and fascinating experimental exploration of time and identity. Anti-Clock is a film of authentic, startling originality. Filled with high tension and high intelligence, Anti-Clock is mysterious, disturbing, fascinating and exciting.” (Jack Kroll, Newsweek)
The Star And Shadow Cinema CIC, Stepney Bank
Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 2NP
info@starandshadow.org.uk
http://www.starandshadow.org.uk/on/season/83
Doors open at 7pm and the films start at 7.30pm on the dot. Please note that there are no adverts or trailers before the screenings.
Entry for all films is £4/£3 concessions, unless otherwise stated. Everyone who comes to the Star and Shadow must become a member: this is only £1 for the calendar year. The Star and Shadow will not turn anyone away through a lack of funds and entry for Asylum Seekers is free.
The Star and Shadow is run entirely by volunteer members, with all members having a say in what we do and how we do it.
///////////////////
A LITTLE MORE ABOUT JANE ARDEN
In the late 1940s, after studying at RADA, Arden’s career started to form as she began to play parts on television and in London theatres. As the 1950s progressed, Arden concentrated on writing for stage and television, working with some of the key figures of British theatre and cinema such as Sheila Allen, Joan Simms, Jack Bond, David de Keyser, Alan Bates, Victor Spinetti, Albert Finney, Charles Laughton, Harold Pinter, and Philip Saville (whom she married).
In the 1960s her work became increasingly radical as her interest and involvement in feminism and the anti-psychiatry movement grew. This is particularly evident from 1965 onwards, when Jane began tracing female oppression and wrote a script for the BBC drama 'The Logic Game'. It was described as a "surrealist puzzle" which attempted to locate the isolation of women in the context of a bourgeois marriage.
Arden’s cinematic career begins with her original script and her performance in Separation (1967), which was directed by Arden’s collaborator Jack Bond.
In 1969 she produced the play Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven, which ran to a packed house for six weeks at Arts Lab in London. From this she formed the radical feminist theatre group Holocaust and then wrote the play A New Communion for Freaks Prophets and Witches, which was to become the film The Other Side of the Underneath. The film premiered at the London Film Festival in 1972.
In the early 1970s Jane spent time in Morocco. Upon her return she made two more films, both co-directed with Jack Bond, the experimental Vibration in 1974, and Anti-Clock, which opened the 1979 London Film Festival. Both films incorporated experimental video techniques, Arden's vision was seminal in creating the 'multi-channel' film art form.
Arden died in 1982 and, after an initial tribute at the National Film Theatre in 1983, the films were suppressed; her name consequently fading from the public realm. After nearly three decades, in 2009, the BFI re-released Separation (1967), The Other Side of the Underneath (1972) and Anti-Clock (1979), creating a previously unavailable platform for a new generation to see her work.
However, the depth and social relevance of this work commands that Arden’s output receive greater recognition and award her deserved status amongst her contemporaries.
* JANE ARDEN SEASON AT THE STAR AND SHADOW CINEMA * 8TH- 16TH DECEMBER 2010
www.janeardenproject.blogspot.com
Jane Arden (1927- 1982) was a film director, actor, screenwriter, playwright, songwriter and poet. Her films are seldom seen, but her relevance in the history of Feminist cinema and British culture has received renewed interest.
At the Star & Shadow Cinema, we bring you three of her feature films and a rare short. This is a viewing opportunity not to be missed! This program is a continuation of the effort of the Jane Arden Project with the purpose that these works of art gain the greater recognition they deserve.
Wednesday 8th December, 7.30pmSeparation(Directed by Jack Bond, 1967, 89 mins)Scripted by and starring Jane Arden, Separation portrays the fragile complexity of its protagonist during a marital breakdown, through fragmented scenes, experimental, fragmented sequences. Set against the backdrop of 'swinging' 60s London. The soundtrack is by Procul Harum and light shows by artist Mark Boyle.
Sunday 12th December, 7.30pmThe Other Side of Underneath(Directed by Jane Arden, 1972, 106 mins)Jane Arden's violent and powerful film is an exploration into the mind of a woman labeled schizophrenic, whilst challenging the taboos of society. It is the only British feature film of the 1970s with a solo female direction credit and features a soundtrack by cellist Sally Pullinger.
Thursday 16th December, 7.30pmVibration + Anti-Clock(Directed by Jane Arden & Jack Bond, 1975 & 1979, 36mins & 92mins)Vibration is "an exercise in meditation utilising experimental film and video techniques" (Geoff Brown & Robert Murphy) “A complex and fascinating experimental exploration of time and identity. Anti-Clock is a film of authentic, startling originality. Filled with high tension and high intelligence, Anti-Clock is mysterious, disturbing, fascinating and exciting.” (Jack Kroll, Newsweek)
The Star And Shadow Cinema CIC, Stepney Bank
Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 2NP
info@starandshadow.org.uk
http://www.starandshadow.org.uk/on/season/83
Doors open at 7pm and the films start at 7.30pm on the dot. Please note that there are no adverts or trailers before the screenings.
Entry for all films is £4/£3 concessions, unless otherwise stated. Everyone who comes to the Star and Shadow must become a member: this is only £1 for the calendar year. The Star and Shadow will not turn anyone away through a lack of funds and entry for Asylum Seekers is free.
The Star and Shadow is run entirely by volunteer members, with all members having a say in what we do and how we do it.
///////////////////
A LITTLE MORE ABOUT JANE ARDEN
In the late 1940s, after studying at RADA, Arden’s career started to form as she began to play parts on television and in London theatres. As the 1950s progressed, Arden concentrated on writing for stage and television, working with some of the key figures of British theatre and cinema such as Sheila Allen, Joan Simms, Jack Bond, David de Keyser, Alan Bates, Victor Spinetti, Albert Finney, Charles Laughton, Harold Pinter, and Philip Saville (whom she married).
In the 1960s her work became increasingly radical as her interest and involvement in feminism and the anti-psychiatry movement grew. This is particularly evident from 1965 onwards, when Jane began tracing female oppression and wrote a script for the BBC drama 'The Logic Game'. It was described as a "surrealist puzzle" which attempted to locate the isolation of women in the context of a bourgeois marriage.
Arden’s cinematic career begins with her original script and her performance in Separation (1967), which was directed by Arden’s collaborator Jack Bond.
In 1969 she produced the play Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven, which ran to a packed house for six weeks at Arts Lab in London. From this she formed the radical feminist theatre group Holocaust and then wrote the play A New Communion for Freaks Prophets and Witches, which was to become the film The Other Side of the Underneath. The film premiered at the London Film Festival in 1972.
In the early 1970s Jane spent time in Morocco. Upon her return she made two more films, both co-directed with Jack Bond, the experimental Vibration in 1974, and Anti-Clock, which opened the 1979 London Film Festival. Both films incorporated experimental video techniques, Arden's vision was seminal in creating the 'multi-channel' film art form.
Arden died in 1982 and, after an initial tribute at the National Film Theatre in 1983, the films were suppressed; her name consequently fading from the public realm. After nearly three decades, in 2009, the BFI re-released Separation (1967), The Other Side of the Underneath (1972) and Anti-Clock (1979), creating a previously unavailable platform for a new generation to see her work.
However, the depth and social relevance of this work commands that Arden’s output receive greater recognition and award her deserved status amongst her contemporaries.
call for submissions: London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival 2011
from my inbox...
Please forward...
It is that time of year again...
Submissions are open for the 25th London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival! Link to form below. The festival will take place 31st March - 6th April. Please get work to us before Christmas.
http://www.bfi.org.uk/llgff/news/430
As many of you will have heard by now, the festival is sadly only a week long next year due to funding cuts. But this does mean more fun packed into one week, half the hangovers and no time to get festival flu... so that's not so bad. Of course this also means there are less screening slots so please please get your work in as soon as possible.
As ever please mark feminist, activist, music related and POC work for my attention - I would really like at least one film involving a labrys this year if at all possible please!
Hope you are all warm, well and safe.
x Naz
PS please note that I have moved so if you have sent films to me at home in the past I won't get them in time as my post is being redirected to Wales. Please send to;
Nazmia Jamal, LLGFF, Festivals Office, BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XT.
Please forward...
It is that time of year again...
Submissions are open for the 25th London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival! Link to form below. The festival will take place 31st March - 6th April. Please get work to us before Christmas.
http://www.bfi.org.uk/llgff/news/430
As many of you will have heard by now, the festival is sadly only a week long next year due to funding cuts. But this does mean more fun packed into one week, half the hangovers and no time to get festival flu... so that's not so bad. Of course this also means there are less screening slots so please please get your work in as soon as possible.
As ever please mark feminist, activist, music related and POC work for my attention - I would really like at least one film involving a labrys this year if at all possible please!
Hope you are all warm, well and safe.
x Naz
PS please note that I have moved so if you have sent films to me at home in the past I won't get them in time as my post is being redirected to Wales. Please send to;
Nazmia Jamal, LLGFF, Festivals Office, BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XT.
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
women make noise
From my inbox. From Julia Downes...
Call for Contributors: ‘Women Make Noise’ edited by Julia Downes
For the Women and Arts series on a new imprint SUPERNOVA BOOKS
General overview:
We are seeking contributors for a new book on music. Women Make Noise will critically explore the past and present participations of women and girls with popular music. Particular attention will be paid to ‘all-girl’ bands. Whilst the media celebrates the spectacles of the girl singer and female-fronted band, ‘all-girl’ bands tend to be marginalised, trivialised and even ignored by dominant journalistic and historical accounts of popular music cultures. Commentary of ‘all-girl’ bands can include doubts over women’s musicianship, anxiety and fear of lesbian/assertive female sexualities, an overemphasis on bitching and bickering amongst band members, and a ‘novelty’ status that constantly marks ‘all-girl’ bands as different from authentic (male) bands. This leaves ‘all-girl’ bands to exist in a contradictory position of opportunity and devaluation in society and culture.
Women Make Noise will critique these mainstream representations of the ‘all-girl’ band to explore alternative accounts of ‘all-girl’ bands; to explore the complexities of creativity, identity, performance, aesthetics, politics, conflict and community at work in women and girls collective music-making. The book will focus on the ways in which music can be used as a radical medium by women and girls in order to contest wider struggles – for instance, of nation, ethnicity, class, sexuality, gender, age and feminisms. Thereby highlighting how ‘all-girl’ bands offer the potential to question and transform society, culture, history and politics. The book will feature informed yet accessible contributions from a variety of writers.
500 word (approx) chapter proposals and 100 word (approx) author biographies are sought from writers on women and girls’ music participations within, but not limited to, the following broadly-defined genres:· Rap and hip hop· Metal· Post-punk· No wave· Punk· Hardcore· Rock· Pop· riot grrrl· Disco· Electro· Girl groups· Noise
Chapters (6,000 words max) should focus on the contributions of ‘all-girl’ groups who write/wrote their own material and play/played their own instruments, though discussion of groups with some male members and of solo artists can be included where relevant. Proposals should (i) outline the musical moment, music-makers and individuals that contributors wish to focus on, (ii) highlight the contributor’s personal connection to the music cultures and communities under discussion and, (iii) outline how the contributor will directly engage with the thoughts, ideas and perspectives of the music-makers and cultural producers to be discussed. Proposals should also highlight how the chapter will meet the overall ethos of the book and also demonstrate the author’s ability to write for a popular and specialist audience.
Proposals and biographies should be submitted by December 31st 2010 to julia.h.downes@gmail.com although we welcome submissions in advance of this date.The publishing date for this book is October 2011 and we would require completed chapters from contributors by March 2011 (though the Aurora Metro team can of course help with research and offer feedback prior to this date).
We are also looking for images to be included within the book to be sent to rebecca@aurorametro.com
About the editor:
Julia Downes completed her PhD in British queer feminist music cultural resistance at the University of Leeds in 2010. She has also been a Lecturer in Popular Music at the University of Birmingham and has taught courses on music histories, gender and sexualities at the University of Leeds. Julia has previously published academic and populist articles on riot grrrl and feminist music cultures. Julia currently works for Independent Domestic Abuse Services and plays drums in the ‘all-girl’ band Vile Vile Creatures. http://leeds.academia.edu/JuliaDownes
About the publisher
SUPERNOVA BOOKS is a new imprint on Aurora Metro Publications that will explore the arts in innovative ways, giving voice to creative groups and individuals that may be marginalised within their chosen fields. Using digital technology to reach new audiences and looking beyond the mainstream, the aim is to examine the bolder and more extreme creative thinkers as well as those enjoying critical acclaim. The press will launch in March 2011 with a biography of enigmatic actor, writer and director Patrick McGoohan who starred in cult TV series The Prisoner. This will be followed by a series examining the position of female filmmakers, musicians, theatre directors, architects, artists and fashion designers within their chosen sector. These books will explore new talent and profile the work of recognised pioneers in each field placing all within a historical context, examining their influences and asking what the future has in store for them and their contemporaries. Each book will also suggest ways for readers to become actively involved and provide comprehensive resource lists detailing festivals, workshops, online communities and DIY strategies for self-starters. www.supernovabooks.co.uk
AURORA METRO PUBLICATIONS is an independent publisher and an arts-based charity situated in an old stable building in Twickenham, Middlesex, England. The company founder and director is Cheryl Robson, playwright, producer and editor. She works with a small staff and volunteers to discover unique and powerful works that demand to be published. She also manages the arts and education projects which the company is involved with in schools, colleges and the community. www.aurorametro.com
Call for Contributors: ‘Women Make Noise’ edited by Julia Downes
For the Women and Arts series on a new imprint SUPERNOVA BOOKS
General overview:
We are seeking contributors for a new book on music. Women Make Noise will critically explore the past and present participations of women and girls with popular music. Particular attention will be paid to ‘all-girl’ bands. Whilst the media celebrates the spectacles of the girl singer and female-fronted band, ‘all-girl’ bands tend to be marginalised, trivialised and even ignored by dominant journalistic and historical accounts of popular music cultures. Commentary of ‘all-girl’ bands can include doubts over women’s musicianship, anxiety and fear of lesbian/assertive female sexualities, an overemphasis on bitching and bickering amongst band members, and a ‘novelty’ status that constantly marks ‘all-girl’ bands as different from authentic (male) bands. This leaves ‘all-girl’ bands to exist in a contradictory position of opportunity and devaluation in society and culture.
Women Make Noise will critique these mainstream representations of the ‘all-girl’ band to explore alternative accounts of ‘all-girl’ bands; to explore the complexities of creativity, identity, performance, aesthetics, politics, conflict and community at work in women and girls collective music-making. The book will focus on the ways in which music can be used as a radical medium by women and girls in order to contest wider struggles – for instance, of nation, ethnicity, class, sexuality, gender, age and feminisms. Thereby highlighting how ‘all-girl’ bands offer the potential to question and transform society, culture, history and politics. The book will feature informed yet accessible contributions from a variety of writers.
500 word (approx) chapter proposals and 100 word (approx) author biographies are sought from writers on women and girls’ music participations within, but not limited to, the following broadly-defined genres:· Rap and hip hop· Metal· Post-punk· No wave· Punk· Hardcore· Rock· Pop· riot grrrl· Disco· Electro· Girl groups· Noise
Chapters (6,000 words max) should focus on the contributions of ‘all-girl’ groups who write/wrote their own material and play/played their own instruments, though discussion of groups with some male members and of solo artists can be included where relevant. Proposals should (i) outline the musical moment, music-makers and individuals that contributors wish to focus on, (ii) highlight the contributor’s personal connection to the music cultures and communities under discussion and, (iii) outline how the contributor will directly engage with the thoughts, ideas and perspectives of the music-makers and cultural producers to be discussed. Proposals should also highlight how the chapter will meet the overall ethos of the book and also demonstrate the author’s ability to write for a popular and specialist audience.
Proposals and biographies should be submitted by December 31st 2010 to julia.h.downes@gmail.com although we welcome submissions in advance of this date.The publishing date for this book is October 2011 and we would require completed chapters from contributors by March 2011 (though the Aurora Metro team can of course help with research and offer feedback prior to this date).
We are also looking for images to be included within the book to be sent to rebecca@aurorametro.com
About the editor:
Julia Downes completed her PhD in British queer feminist music cultural resistance at the University of Leeds in 2010. She has also been a Lecturer in Popular Music at the University of Birmingham and has taught courses on music histories, gender and sexualities at the University of Leeds. Julia has previously published academic and populist articles on riot grrrl and feminist music cultures. Julia currently works for Independent Domestic Abuse Services and plays drums in the ‘all-girl’ band Vile Vile Creatures. http://leeds.academia.edu/JuliaDownes
About the publisher
SUPERNOVA BOOKS is a new imprint on Aurora Metro Publications that will explore the arts in innovative ways, giving voice to creative groups and individuals that may be marginalised within their chosen fields. Using digital technology to reach new audiences and looking beyond the mainstream, the aim is to examine the bolder and more extreme creative thinkers as well as those enjoying critical acclaim. The press will launch in March 2011 with a biography of enigmatic actor, writer and director Patrick McGoohan who starred in cult TV series The Prisoner. This will be followed by a series examining the position of female filmmakers, musicians, theatre directors, architects, artists and fashion designers within their chosen sector. These books will explore new talent and profile the work of recognised pioneers in each field placing all within a historical context, examining their influences and asking what the future has in store for them and their contemporaries. Each book will also suggest ways for readers to become actively involved and provide comprehensive resource lists detailing festivals, workshops, online communities and DIY strategies for self-starters. www.supernovabooks.co.uk
AURORA METRO PUBLICATIONS is an independent publisher and an arts-based charity situated in an old stable building in Twickenham, Middlesex, England. The company founder and director is Cheryl Robson, playwright, producer and editor. She works with a small staff and volunteers to discover unique and powerful works that demand to be published. She also manages the arts and education projects which the company is involved with in schools, colleges and the community. www.aurorametro.com
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
i assumed it was totally acceptable for me to be doing whatever bizarre thing i wanted to do on stage
Oh, and while I'm re-posting rad things from the Internet: oh hello rad interview with Khaela Maricih!
I remember seeing The Blow live a few years ago, and Khaela blowing my mind so much that I embarrassingly gushed as much to her after the show and blushed more than a little at the realisation of my ability to gush so wildly!
I was so ill at that point that hadn't left my bed for a couple of weeks before the show, yet I'm so thankful that somebody put me on a train so that I *had* to go to the show, making sure I *didn't* miss it. And I'm so bloody glad that happened. I can remember some of the things Khaela said in-between the songs almost word-perfectly, so attuned she was to some of the insides of my head.
Brilliant woman!
I remember seeing The Blow live a few years ago, and Khaela blowing my mind so much that I embarrassingly gushed as much to her after the show and blushed more than a little at the realisation of my ability to gush so wildly!
I was so ill at that point that hadn't left my bed for a couple of weeks before the show, yet I'm so thankful that somebody put me on a train so that I *had* to go to the show, making sure I *didn't* miss it. And I'm so bloody glad that happened. I can remember some of the things Khaela said in-between the songs almost word-perfectly, so attuned she was to some of the insides of my head.
Brilliant woman!
oh hello brilliant idea...
Via Microcosm:
"The awesome Beehive Collective is running a Kickstarter to help re-print their ENTIRE BODY OF GRAPHIC WORKS! WOW!"
I remember first hearing about the Beehive Collective such a long time ago via Punk Planet - it's so rad that they're doing this!
"The awesome Beehive Collective is running a Kickstarter to help re-print their ENTIRE BODY OF GRAPHIC WORKS! WOW!"
I remember first hearing about the Beehive Collective such a long time ago via Punk Planet - it's so rad that they're doing this!
Monday, 22 November 2010
shape and situate zine news
Updates on where you can get hold of the zine, 'Shape & Situate: Posters Of Inspirational European Women':
1. Thanks to the wonderful Jimi Gherkin, copies of the zine will be available on the communal table at this weekend's Alternative Press Fair
Details: Sunday 28 November 2010, 12pm to 6pm. A day of zines, comix, poetry, radical literature, printmaking and anything else self-published! Venue: St. Aloysius' Social Centre, Corner of Eversholt Street and Phoenix Road, London NW1 1TA (Nearest Tube: Euston)
2. The zine will soon be available (if it isn't already) from the following UK zine distros:
Marching Stars [thanks Lizzie]
&
Dear Soeurs [thanks Izzy and Flo]
3. I've just started listing them on the COTL etsy site and the COTL Folksy site (UK delivery only for the time being I'm afraid)
4. If you see me out and about in Leeds over the next few weeks I'm bound to have a copy on me!
//////////////////
If you want to distro the zine or stock the zine please do get in touch - I'd generally just love for less of them to be in a box in my bedroom!!
//////////////////
Nina Nijsten has also blogged about the zine on her Feminist Poster Project Blog
Thanks Nina!
1. Thanks to the wonderful Jimi Gherkin, copies of the zine will be available on the communal table at this weekend's Alternative Press Fair
Details: Sunday 28 November 2010, 12pm to 6pm. A day of zines, comix, poetry, radical literature, printmaking and anything else self-published! Venue: St. Aloysius' Social Centre, Corner of Eversholt Street and Phoenix Road, London NW1 1TA (Nearest Tube: Euston)
2. The zine will soon be available (if it isn't already) from the following UK zine distros:
Marching Stars [thanks Lizzie]
&
Dear Soeurs [thanks Izzy and Flo]
3. I've just started listing them on the COTL etsy site and the COTL Folksy site (UK delivery only for the time being I'm afraid)
4. If you see me out and about in Leeds over the next few weeks I'm bound to have a copy on me!
//////////////////
If you want to distro the zine or stock the zine please do get in touch - I'd generally just love for less of them to be in a box in my bedroom!!
//////////////////
Nina Nijsten has also blogged about the zine on her Feminist Poster Project Blog
Thanks Nina!
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
footprint zine fayre 13th november 2010
It was the Footprint Zine Fayre in Leeds on Sunday, held to celebrate 10 years of Leeds-based Footprint Workers Co-Op - A Printing Cooperative.
The event was held to try and bring together zine makers and self-publishers who have used Footprint over the years, along with other cooperators and campaigners, and radical & activist projects affiliated with Footprint so that people could sell their work, meet each other, and forge community.
I was asked by the quite wonderful Cath from Footprint to take on the fantastic task of rummaging through Footprint's storage boxes to come up with samples of the ten years worth of zines that Footprint have printed, to show/exhibit them on the day.
The boxes of zines that they had at Footprint HQ were like a treasure trove - so many great examples of past zine work and exciting self-publishing. It was a treat too to be able to see samples of friends' work in those boxes, and even a copy of the first zine I ever had printed at Footprint, back in 2004!! It was even nicer to be able to liberate the zines from their storage boxes for a day and put them on display at the event on Sunday for people to stop by, have a read of, be inspired by, and see just what great work Footprint have been facilitating over the past 10 years.
My initital idea was to make zine bunting, criss-crossing the room to fill the whole space with Footprints' past work. On the day though, there was very little on the walls to attach string and bunting to, so I had to make do with concentrating the bunting in one corner of the room. This worked out well anyway, as that was the same area where the zine reading area was going to be set up, and the space where people were reading from their zines and holding discussion groups, so in the end it acted as a nice communal space for the zines.
Here's some (of my dodgy) photographs of the zine display:
The event was held to try and bring together zine makers and self-publishers who have used Footprint over the years, along with other cooperators and campaigners, and radical & activist projects affiliated with Footprint so that people could sell their work, meet each other, and forge community.
I was asked by the quite wonderful Cath from Footprint to take on the fantastic task of rummaging through Footprint's storage boxes to come up with samples of the ten years worth of zines that Footprint have printed, to show/exhibit them on the day.
The boxes of zines that they had at Footprint HQ were like a treasure trove - so many great examples of past zine work and exciting self-publishing. It was a treat too to be able to see samples of friends' work in those boxes, and even a copy of the first zine I ever had printed at Footprint, back in 2004!! It was even nicer to be able to liberate the zines from their storage boxes for a day and put them on display at the event on Sunday for people to stop by, have a read of, be inspired by, and see just what great work Footprint have been facilitating over the past 10 years.
My initital idea was to make zine bunting, criss-crossing the room to fill the whole space with Footprints' past work. On the day though, there was very little on the walls to attach string and bunting to, so I had to make do with concentrating the bunting in one corner of the room. This worked out well anyway, as that was the same area where the zine reading area was going to be set up, and the space where people were reading from their zines and holding discussion groups, so in the end it acted as a nice communal space for the zines.
Here's some (of my dodgy) photographs of the zine display:
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