the dugout inclusive arts festival

On the 2nd of March I'm going to be part of The Dugout Festival in London, running the zine making area.

www.thedugoutfestival.com

The Dugout is an Inclusive Women’s Arts Festival that has been researched and organised collaboratively by women with and without learning disabilities. 

 The (free) festival aims to support women with learning disabilities to better access art, as well as provide a space for women to creatively collaborate and share skills.

 There's going to be inclusive workshops, an exhibition, a film programme, stalls, collaborative projects, and more.

If anybody knows women who might like to attend, or if you work with groups who love art making then please do pass the information on, as I think it's going to be a really great day.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Dugout-Festival/376906159029636?ref=ts&fref=ts

the para-academic hanbook

From my inbox, from Debi Withers of hammeronpress.net

 

Call for contributions: The Para-Academic Handbook: A toolkit for making-learning-creating-acting

 

There is a name for those under- and precariously employed, but actively working, academics in today’s society: the para-academic.

Para-academics mimic academic practices to liberate them from the confines of the university. Our work, and our lives, reflect how the idea of a university as a place for knowledge production, discussion and learning, has become distorted by neo-liberal market forces. We create alternative, genuinely open access, learning-thinking-making-acting spaces on the internet, in public...ations, in exhibitions, discussion groups or other mediums that seem appropriate to the situation. We don’t sit back and worry about our career developments paths. We write for the love of it, we think because we have to, we do it because we care.

We take the prefix para- to illustrate how we work alongside, beside, next to, and rub up against, the all too proper location of the Academy, making the work of higher education a little more irregular, a little more perverse, a little more improper. Our work takes up the potential of the multiple and contradictory resonances of para- as decisive location for change, within the university as much as beyond it.

Specialists in all manner of things, from the humanities to the social and biological sciences, the para-academic works alongside the traditional university, sometimes by necessity, sometimes by choice, usually a mixture of both. Frustrated by the lack of opportunities to research, create learning experiences or make a basic living within the university on our own terms, para-academics don’t seek out alternative careers in the face of an evaporated future, we just continue to do what we’ve always done: write, research, learn, think, and facilitate that process for others.

We do this without prior legitimisation from any one institution. Para-academics do not need to churn out endless ‘outputs’ because of the pressures of a heavily assessed research environment. We work towards making ideas because learning, sharing, thinking and creating matter beyond easily quantifiable ‘products’. And we know that this is possible, that we are possible, without the constraints of an increasingly hierarchical academy.

As the para-academic community grows there is a real need to build supportive networks, share knowledge, ideas and strategies that can allow these types of interventions to become sustainable and flourish. There is a very real need to create spaces of solace and creativity.

The Para-Academic Handbook: A Toolkit for making-learning-creating-acting, edited by Alex Wardrop and Deborah Withers, calls for articles (between 1,000-6,000 words), cartoons, photographs, illustrations, inspirations and other forms of text/graphic communication exploring para-academic practice, and its place within active intellectual cultures of the early 21st century.

It will be published by HammerOn Press in 2014.

Enquiries to mail@hammeronpress.net
Deadline for submissions 1 July 2013.

remembering who we are event write up

My partner in crime, Lindsay Starbuck, has written an amazing blog about Saturday's event, feturing really nice photos.

It can be read here: http://andsomeplyers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/remembering-who-we-are-event_27.html

remembering who we are event london, photos

Remembering Who We Are event, 26/1/13

 

To celebrate the closing of the Shape & Situate exhibition at Space Station Sixty-Five gallery in London, myself and Lindsay Draws organised an event, gathering together a heap of art depicting and educating on social-and-political history, alongside amazing social justice/creative resistance art projects and film documentation. Some of the work shown is featured in these photos.

All the info about the day's events can be found at: http://remember-who-u-are.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/updates-to-remembering-who-we-are.html

My photos aren't the best, so keep your eyes on the Space Station Sixty-Five website, and Caged Bird Club blog for further photos and documentation; they're likely to have documented things in a less-rushed manner, and captured some of the atmosphere.

The day featured contributions from: Peter Willis, Edd Baldry, Justseeds, Caged Bird Club (Matthew and Lindsay), Lindsay Starbuck, Melanie Maddison, David Lester, Fly, Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring, Favianna Rodriguez, Melanie Cervantes, Jesus Barazza, Margareta Kern, Mary Tremonte, Occuprint, Rhythms of Resistance samba band, and all the contributors to Shape & Situate zine.

p.s. All these photos were taking before the doors opened to the public - a huge amount of people came and shared the day with us, you just can't see them on these shots!! Huge thanks to everybody who attended, it was such a great day; thank you for your questions, participation, attention, and enthusiasm for all the work.

Extra special thanks to Rachael, Jo, Rachel and Joe at SS65.

Photo set can be viewed at: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151199687996073.439208.610521072&type=1&l=dc89846ff7

the beautiful resistance

So many amazing social justice/creative resistance art projects and film documentation is coming out at the moment. Here's another, that we made reference to at yesterday's 'Remembering Who We Are' event in London...



The Beautiful Resistance

Filmed over the course of a year and a half in seven different cities, The Beautiful Resistance is the story of four Latino artists and how they've used their work to fight Arizona's immigration laws and change the perceptions of Latinos in America.

Watch at: http://vimeo.com/57627513

anthology of real-life accounts by women campaigners

From my inbox:



Fwd: Calling women campaigners (or friends of!)

contact: helena AT warmlight DOT co DOT uk

Dear friend,

I have been commissioned, along with Angharad Penrhyn Jones, to produce an anthology of real-life accounts by women campaigners.

These are stories and experiences that need recording and preserving. They will be compiled in an anthology, edited by Angharad Penrhyn Jones and Helena Earnshaw, and published by Honno, Welsh Women's Press, in 2014. We are trying to locate a variety of real life experiences by women from across the UK who have been involved in an inspirational campaign or action.

I hope that you might be either interested in sharing your experience, or passing this message on to others you know.

Love and thanks,
Helena


Calling women campaigners
Campaigning Voices
Honno Welsh Women's Press are looking for real-life accounts from women across the UK who have taken part in an inspirational action or campaign – local, national or international. These stories will be compiled in an anthology and published in 2014 by Honno Press.

Whether you occupied a tree at Newbury, walked to Greenham, stood up against discrimination or helped save a hospital, we would love to hear from you. We would also love to hear your recommendations of other women whose stories you believe should be included.

What inspired you to get involved? What was your experience of the campaign/action? How did it affect you and your family? And how did it change you? Some stories will take the form of personal essays; others will be based on interviews. So if you are not a confident writer, but you have a powerful story to tell, please get in touch.

We need a one-page summary describing the kind of campaign you were involved in, where it took place (and where you are from), the year(s) it took place and your email address. We are happy to preserve your anonymity. Let us know if you would prefer to be interviewed.

Please submit your summary to submissions@honno.co.uk by 31st March 2013.

Editors: Angharad Penrhyn Jones (campaigner, film-maker and writer) and Helena Earnshaw (former editor at OneWorld.net, writer for Big Issue Cymru and involved in McSpotlight and peace campaigns in Wales.)

Honno Welsh Women's Press was founded in 1986 by a group of women who felt that Welsh women needed a voice. The start up money was raised through crowd funding, with contributions from over 400 women across Wales. Honno has published more than a hundred titles, including twenty-eight anthologies of Welsh women's writing.

Full details at: http://www.honno.co.uk/campaignsubmissions.php

migration now

So many amazing social justice/creative resistance art projects coming out at the moment. Here's another from my inbox...


MIGRATION NOW!

A limited-edition portfolio of handmade prints addressing migrant issues from Justseeds & CultureStrike.
The Migration Now portfolio is finished! 37 prints by amazing artists from all over North America, addressing migrant issues- featuring El Mac, Imin Yeh, Lalo Alcaraz, and many others as well as the work of artists from Justseeds and Culture Strike! Check it out here:

http://migrationnow.com/

A limited-edition portfolio of handmade prints addressing migrant issues from Justseeds & CultureStrike.

Migration is a phenomenon, not a problem, something that simply is. The right to migrate and to move freely is our human right. When societies restrict or choke off the movements of their citizens, they end up doing the work of a dam- they generate power and control floods, but in doing so they destroy life and wreck the surrounding space.

We want to re-imagine migration as an inevitability, as a social practice that is not to be prevented but to be related to, like weather. All migration starts with social relationships. When people move, they are going either towards their families or communities, or more often, away from them. They move to help their relatives, or support them by leaving. People migrate because their homes stifle them, because those homes become burdens they need to shed in order to have full lives. They move in search of opportunity, or to escape their past, or to simply survive. They move because of lies they are told and that they come to believe, and they move to fulfil the most beautiful and fragile of dreams. Migration is fundamentally about our right to move freely across planet Earth, in search of our fullest and best selves.

Check out the project website for more information about the project and the artists involved.

37 handmade 12" x 18" prints in heavyweight printed paper cover

migration is beautiful

We'll be showing this documentary, with Favianna's permission, as part of the Remembering Who We Are event on January 26th at SS65. But for those that can't make it, please consider watching this really important video series about the role of art in migration issues and social justice.

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PART 1: http://bit.ly/WKNLlt
PART 2: http://bit.ly/TPUopR
PART 3: http://bit.ly/10n5jMN




Documentary Web Series "Voice of Art” Releases Episode, "Migration is Beautiful", highlighting the growing movement of artists, designers, performers and musicians working for migrant justice, featuring Activist and Artist Favianna Rodriguez

Also Features Actor and Activist Rosario Dawson and Pulitzer Prize Winning Author Undocumented Activist Jose Antonio Vargas

Episode a part of weekly series that airs on Pharrell Williams' i am OTHER YouTube Channeland produced by Black Dog Films

Watch here:http://bit.ly/10ujZtH

 

Los Angeles, CA. – Voice of Art, a powerful new documentary series on Pharrell Williams’ i am Other YouTube Channel, is releasing a three part series episode featuring Artist and Activist Favianna Rodriguez, Actor and Activist Rosario Dawson and Pulitzer Prize Winning Author Undocumented Activist Jose Antonio Vargas. The episode focuses on artists-activists using online and offline art and activism to bring about definitive changes to immigration policy and perceptions of immigrants.

Most recently, the definitive role of Latino and other artists in US politics was highlighted in recent elections in which both Presidential candidates were forced to respond to artist and activist concerns around immigration, as Latino voters in particular exercised unprecedented power and influence.

The episode features Favianna Rodriguez, a leading voice in the movement of artists facing down the tide of anti-immigrant hatred, and follows her to the front lines of the immigration battle in Tucson, Arizona and the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, where Rodriguez joins undocumented activists from the historic No Papers No Fear Ride for Justice, risking arrest, and other abuse from authorities.

Alongside rappers, emcees, street artists, painters, poets and performers, Rodriguez launched a historic cultural campaign turning the monarch butterfly into an iconic symbol of the immigrant rights movement and of the beauty and dignity of migrants and their journeys.

Other notable voices in the piece include Pulitzer-prize winning author, Jose Antonio Vargas; UndocuQueer artivist, Julio Salgado; both of who were featured on TIME Magazine’s June 2012 Cover Story. Tucson Attorney and Human Rights Activist, Isabel Garcia; Writer and Presente.org co-founder, Roberto Lovato, and Emcee, and Jasiri X.

Additionally, I am OTHER is calling on viewers to upload photos of butterflies to Facebook tagging i am OTHER’s page and using the #migrationisbeautiful hashtag. The first 100 people will personally receive one of Favianna’s iconic butterfly stickers.

 

ABOUT FAVIANNA RODRIGUEZ

Favianna is transnational interdisciplinary artist and cultural organizer that works for social change. A recent instructor at Stanford University, her art and online organizing projects deal with migration, global politics, economic disparity, patriarchy, and interdependence. Rodriguez lectures globally on the power ofart, cultural organizing and technology to inspire social change, and she also leads art workshops at universities around the country. In 2011, she co-founded CultureStrike, a national organization that works to engage artists in migrant rights. In 2009 she cofounded Presente.org, a national online organizing network dedicated to the political empowerment of Latino communities.

 

ABOUT VOICE OF ART

Voice of Art (VOA) is a video documentary series following the work of artists as they work towards transformation and social justice in their communities. VOA’s 30 minute episodes introduce artists, discuss the socio-political issues of their choice, and show their creative expressions – street art, graffiti, street theater, art interventions, etc. – on the chosen theme. Voice of Art has filmed artists in Los Angeles, Chicago, Oakland, New York City, Tucson and Charlotte.Themes covered to date have been the battle for visual expression in public space, the military industrial complex, corporate malfeasance, police brutality, immigration reform & the pro-migrant movement, and the California fight to label genetically modified foods. The show is created by ZS Grant and John Carr.

 

Connect Online:

Blog:Voatv.org

FB: facebook.com/voatv

 

ABOUT BLACK DOG FILMS

Black Dog Films represents some of the most creative and established directorial talent in both the US and UK, and has produced exceptional content spanning music videos, art, photography, fashion, and advertising since its inception in 1991 by Jake Scott.

Connect:

Site:www.blackdogfilms.com

FB: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Dog-Films/112922132056838?fref=ts

 

ABOUT CULTURESTRIKE

CultureStrike seeks to support the national and global arts movement around immigration. It is a network of artists, writers, filmmakers, musicians, and other culturalworkers who want to fight anti-immigrant hate by amplifying the stories of migrants and creating counter-narratives about migration. CultureStrike commissions, publishes, and broadcasts new art, writing and media, featuring a wide range of literature, art and ideas in its online magazine of culture and politics.

FB: Facebook.com/CultureStrike

Twitter: Twitter.com/CultureStrike

f word blog on disability benefits and work capability

Such important conversation: http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2013/01/get_an_imaginar


Petition online here: https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/43154

Updates to Remembering Who We Are

Updated news on the 'Remembering Who We Are' event, on Saturday January 26th at Space Station Sixty Five:


Schedule (check back before the date to make sure there's no changes):

1pm - Doors open
1:15 - Videos from members of the Justseeds artist cooperative (Mary Tremonte, Melanie Cervantes, Jesus Barraza and Favianna Rodriguez)
2:15 - Peter Willis' artist talk about the Great Anarchists project
3.15 - Screening of two short films from the 'Strike 1984' project + Q&A with artist Margareta Kern
4:15 - Melanie Maddison's artist talk about the Shape and Situate: Posters of Inspirational Women zine project
4.30 - Lindsay Starbuck's artist talk about her work as street artist Pivo and with the Caged Bird Club
5:00 - Edd Baldry's artist talk about his radical illustration work
5:30 - Live performance by Rhythms of Resistance
6pm - Doors shut

- - - - - -


Remembering Who We Are: Exploring artistic and creative sociopolitical memory, and art in social change movements




Saturday 26th January 2013

www.spacestationsixtyfive.com Space Station Sixty Five, 373 Kennington Road, London, SE11 4PS

1pm-6pm


A day of presentations, exhibitions, a resource archive, video screenings, artist talks, discussions, participatory zine-making, and more.

I've been working on planning this event with the ever lovely Lindsay Starbuck.



To mark the closing day of the Posters of Inspirational European Women: Taken from the zine Shape & Situate'
exhibition, (featuring every poster ever made for the zine project - all 97 of them!) Space Station Sixty Five will be hosting a collection of resources from other sociopolitical art, poster, zine and publication projects for everyone to explore.

Inspirational work will be featured, displayed, exhibited and screened. This includes artefacts and art from projects such as: Celebrate People’s History, Occuprint, Inspired Agitators, Dead Feminists, Peops, Great Anarchists, The Life & Times of Butch Dykes, Shape & Situate, Caged Bird Club, Firebrands: Portraits of the Americas, plus many more. Other work that is not tangibly in the gallery will be shown electronically as part of presentations by various artists.



Also happening throughout the day:




Lindsay Starbuck and Melanie Maddison will give a short talk/discussion about the role, importance, and act of creative sociopolitical history projects with reference to their own work:
Caged Bird Club
and
Shape & Situate: Posters Of Inspirational European Women’



It will touch on:

 · Remembering and celebrating individual’s lives and actions via creative/art projects;

· How individual’s lives have been mis/represented in our communities via conventional history;

· Moving away from a reliance on the existence (or non-existence) of mainstream dominant written narratives about 'history';

· Memory as a political tool; and

 · Using art to inspire others to join us in creating change in the world.


 ///



We will be showing clips from socially engaged artists who use their art practice to incite change, whose art can be viewed as activism, and/or whose art engages with the politics of memory and socio-political history.



This will include videos showing the artwork, practices and processes of:

- Melanie Cervantes, and her work with Jesus Barraza creating art within and for the Occupy movement and Dignidad Rebelde



- Mary Tremonte, and her work with Justseeds visual resistance artists co-operative



- Fly, and her work with the PEOPs project


///

Video on Favianna Rodriguez, and the role of her work in migration issues (www.favianna.com)

We will be showing a "Voice of Art” documentary; Episode, "Migration is Beautiful", highlighting the growing movement of artists, designers, performers and musicians working for migrant justice, featuring Activist and Artist Favianna Rodriguez. (Produced by Black Dog Films)
The episode focuses on artists-activists using online and offline art and activism to bring about definitive changes to immigration policy and perceptions of immigrants.
Most recently, the definitive role of Latino and other artists in US politics was highlighted in recent elections in which both Presidential candidates were forced to respond to artist and activist concerns around immigration, as Latino voters in particular exercised unprecedented power and influence.
The episode features Favianna Rodriguez, a leading voice in the movement of artists facing down the tide of anti-immigrant hatred, and follows her to the front lines of the immigration battle in Tucson, Arizona and the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, where Rodriguez joins undocumented activists from the historic No Papers No Fear Ride for Justice, risking arrest, and other abuse from authorities.
Alongside rappers, emcees, street artists, painters, poets and performers, Rodriguez launched a historic cultural campaign turning the monarch butterfly into an iconic symbol of the immigrant rights movement and of the beauty and dignity of migrants and their journeys.

 ABOUT FAVIANNA RODRIGUEZ: Favianna is transnational interdisciplinary artist and cultural organizer that works for social change. A recent instructor at Stanford University, her art and online organizing projects deal with migration, global politics, economic disparity, patriarchy, and interdependence. Rodriguez lectures globally on the power of art, cultural organizing and technology to inspire social change. In 2011, she co-founded CultureStrike, a national organization that works to engage artists in migrant rights. In 2009 she cofounded Presente.org, a national online organizing network dedicated to the political empowerment of Latino communities.

///

We are proud to say that the walls of Space Station Sixty Five will be filled with a display of dozens of posters from the Celebrate People’s History project, spanning a wide range of historical moments. 

We will also be displaying all the posters from the limited edition Occuprint portfolio.


///



Edd Baldry – exhibition of Edd’s artwork, and giving a talk/starting a discussion about his work.


///



Peter Willis displaying work from his ‘Great Anarchists’ project, and giving a short talk about the zine project.


///



Margareta Kern will be screening ‘Side by Side Women Organise’, and ‘Solidarity in Action’, films that are part of her 'Strike 1984' project.
This will be followed by a discussion of the films, and about what it means to screen them now with such deep cuts to the public funds and ideological cuts to what public and commons is.


 ‘Side by Side Women Organise’, by The Other Side Video Collective with the Nottingham Women’s Support Group, Nottingham, 1985, 44 min., VHS colour transfered to DVD.

 ‘Solidarity in Action’, by Birmingham Trade Union Resource Centre, 1984, 5 min. VHS colour transfered to DVD.

 The screening focuses on women’s activism and self-organising into a national movement during the miners’ strike in 1984/85. It includes the videos made as part of the Campaign Tape Project, which involved a network of community and activist groups working together with independent film and video workshops in the making of documentary and campaign videos in support of the miners’ strike.

 “Side by Side Women Organise, documents a way in which many women in mining communities became aware of class and sexual politics and organised themselves into a national movement Women against Pit Closures. It shows the parallels they drew between their struggle and the struggles of other oppressed peoples both here and internationally, and with the many struggles of previous generations of women, often hidden in history.” (The Other Side)

 ‘Solidarity in Action!’ is short, five-minute video showing the practicalities and the importance of the food collections that numerous women's groups have been organizing, in support of the Miners’ strike. It is made by Birmingham Trades Council Women's Group.

 Screened with the kind permission of the North-East Film & Television Archive.
 Part of ‘strike1984’ an experimental artist-led research project by Margareta Kern, funded by Leverhulme Trust and Durham University, where Kern is currently artist-in-residence.



///


We will have an inviting creative space for people to contribute to the zine, Remembering Who We Are’, a zine looking at our own individual intersections with politics and action. The zine seeks to capture unique stories of formative events or influential people in our lives. We want to hear, see and share examples of moments that have shaped or are shaping people's political values and have made them into who they are today. 

We will be seeking contributions throughout the day, come visit the zine-making clubhouse designed by members of the Caged Bird Club for everyone to get creative and work on contributions.


 ///



Space will be provided for people to initiate and participate in discussions autonomously; we welcome anyone to propose their own discussions and invite others to take part. This will be an opportunity for people to respond to what they are seeing and hearing on the day, and to shape further discussion, creativity, scheming and collaboration.

///



The day will close with a performance by Rhythms of Resistance playing Samba to protest and dance to!



///



For a full schedule and up to date running order, sign up to the Facebook event page. Or, you can email rememberingzine@gmail.com for updates.



Poster by: Lindsay Starbuck

Head to her blog for a free downloadable poster!

etsy shop update

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

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

Colouring Outside The Lines zine #6

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

S&S exhibition opens a week today

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

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

Cambodian Womens Development Agency

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

remembering who we are zine seeking submissions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

pics from leeds zine fair, november 4th 2012

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

////

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

S&S at SS65 - press release

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

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

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

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

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

Shape & Situate issue 4 back from the printers

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

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

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

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

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

sabrina chap tour preview

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

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

details of times & happenings at Leeds Zine Fair

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

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

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

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

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

///

Other goings on:

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

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

Talks and workshops are as follows:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PLUS

Myself and Lindsay/Pivo are running the following workshop:

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

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

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

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

Click on the images to make them a bit bigger

deviant type

From my inbox, from Annah ♥...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shape & Situate exhibition set to hit London

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

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

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

keeping busy

women and the graphic novel

From my inbox...

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

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

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

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

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

poor lass zine

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

POOR LASS ZINE NEEDS YOU!

Poor la$$es we need you!

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

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

If yes to the above, then we need you.

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks

Em and Seleena

ana albero interview on Pikaland

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

plotting and planning and getting my hands dirty

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

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

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

music & liberation exhibition tour

from my inbox...

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

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

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

The exhibition will be touring to the following venues:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

http://womensliberationmusicarchive.wordpress.com/

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

@music_liberate

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

Follow updates @music_liberate

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

QZFL

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

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

queerzinefestlondon@gmail.com

http://www.facebook.com/lgbtqzinefestlondon

http://queerzinefestlondon.tumblr.com

https://twitter.com/QueerZineFestLd

Of the event, so far, Charlotte writes:

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

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

this is an emergency print portfolio tumblr

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

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

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

S&S#4 - yikes!

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

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

spill the zines always say such lovely things

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

Thank you!

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