On the 20th of January 2025 from 11AM - 1PM, A Zine Workshop took place at the University of Toronto Scarborough with the students of HLTD50 (AIDS and Its Legacies), a course taught by Professor Laura Bisaillon.
This workshop was created from a syllabus by Melissa Mursch-Rodriguez that I had found on The Syllabus Project.
I started the course off with an excerpt from one of their readings, a graphic novel by MK. Czerwiec Taking Turns: Stories
That is, in essence, what I was trying to do with this workshop, give the students a way to explore an alternative emotional vocabulary.
FOLD
(verb: to lay one part over another part of)
What are Zines? (What aren't?)
How do you make a Zine? (Very Easily)
What do you need? (Very Little)
The students were shown examples of Zines that I'd printed and brought (Such as FAT CUNT POWER by the lovely artist Izzy Argent). After being taught to fold a zine, students were left alone for half an hour with old magazines, scissors, glue, tape and markers.
CUT
(verb: make an opening, incision, or wound in (something) with a sharp-edged tool or object )
You've had your heart broken. You want to tell someone about your favourite birds, You want to start a revolution, You want to doodle, You want write, You want to scream... Zines, like art, can hold all of those reasons and more.
BIND
(verb: to fasten together)
Who is your zine for?
(Yourself, Your Community, Your friends, Yourself, Your Family, Your neighbour, Your Cat, Yourself, Your fans, Your Childhood Crush, Politics, Disjuncture, Intervention, Yourself)
"The most important zine you will ever make is your first zine. It is likely to be awful and that is okay, even encouraged. Zines are always works in progress, just like people."
Davida Breier, editor of Xerography Debt (Quoted on pg. 27 of Make a Zine by Joe Biel)
If you would like to attend future workshops or know of a place that might benefit from A Zine Workshop themselves, please leave us your email and a short message and we'll get back to you :)
Thank you!
