From its start, the zine has been an easy & accessible printed form of spreading information and political & personal stories outside of commercial publishing pathways. It continues to be a powerful medium for amplifying and spreading narratives of grassroots movements that might face censorship or misinformation otherwise. Person to page to person (and now shared on virtual bookshelves), zines create an intimate and impactful experience of learning what’s happening on the ground sometimes even in other times and seemingly far away places.
The Independent Publishing Resource Center (IPRC) is partnering with ZineCOOP in Hong Kong and Rabbits Road Press in London, plus Portland-based artists and organizations like Vo Vo, WOC Zines, and Don’t Shoot Portland, to share a sampling of vital (and often, beautifully-designed) zines about grassroots movements both local and around the world. Come immerse yourself in our pop-up reading library, learn, be moved, be surprised, be inspired, and imagine our collective, global futures.
**To access DISPATCHES, click here**
[choose the mobile viewing option when clicking into zines if you do not have adobe flash player]
FIX MY HEAD: FIX MY HEAD is a far-far-left diy non-profit punk zine that is published and currently distributed in Australia, Aotearoa, Malaysia, Singapore, Europe, Russia, the UK, North and Central America. It is a BIPOC focussed publication that interviews artists, academics and activists about different struggles they are facing, eg. colonization, gentrification, organizing in prisons, etc. The content is predominantly women and queer folk.
Don’t Shoot PDX: Don’t Shoot Portland is Black-led and community driven. Founded in 2014 by Teressa Raiford, we are a direct community action plan that advocates for accountability to create social change. Don’t Shoot Portland is being archived in the Library of Congress as a significant documentation of anti-racism work in American history!
IPRC Martha Grover Zine Library Collection: The IPRC Zine Library holds over 9,000 zines. For Dispatches, we pulled zines from radical orgs and artists like Liberations Literacy, Warrior Publications, Sprout Distro, Critical Resistance PDX, KSMOCA, APANO, Sarah Mirk, and so many more!!
Rabbits Road Press: Rabbits Road Press is a community Risograph print studio and publishing press founded and run by OOMK. The project was commissioned by Create London and is based at Old Manor Park Library. The small-scale publishing press provides printing and book binding services for artists and community groups in Newham and beyond.
WOC Zine: The image people have of Portland is mainly based on the white majority who live here – 76.1 % of the population, according to the 2011 U.S. Census. But the other 23.9%, the other Portland, they have a voice too. And the Women of Color Zine (WOC) group is one of the ways that other voice can be heard.
Zine Coop HK: ZINE COOP is an indie publishing artist collective that promotes zine culture in Hong Kong. It provides support on zine making and distribution, connecting artists with book fairs while serving as a bridge between distros and potential readers.