Lesson 4: Food Zine Collage Workshop

What’s a Zine?? Well, it’s short for magazine, and It is a new-ish medium that is part of a DIY and self-publishing art scene and as such are somewhat affiliated with the contemporary punk scene. Zines are basically like little artist’s books, often made by some kind of printing but can be editioned or non-editioned. Zines are a great way to get your art or words out there because they’re cheap and easily distributable, they are often used by activists, artists, poets, etc. but are just now being recognized by established and academic institutions like the Queens Museum and MoMA. Zines can be on any topic, I’ve seen zines that are LGBTQ+ comic books, photo series, activity books, information about the environmental crisis, and reproductive rights. It’s an incredibly vast medium with variations on the subject matter, printing, and production style, so it’s super accessible to not only artists/creators but to the general public. 

Our single page zines focused on how food, culture, and place intersect. We used images from magazines, takeout menus, and supermarket flyers to express our thoughts, memories, and stories surrounding food and home. How do the restaurants and shops around us now have an influence on the identity of our neighborhoods and our cities? How does that influence us as the residents of that place? How similar or different is it compared to the food culture in our own families? We talked about cooking and how food is really tied to care. We discussed how our families expressed care and cultural pride through food and how we can continue those traditions. We shared recipes and stories as well as memories of little food shops or restaurants no longer in existence. I hope you enjoyed our activity, now you can share your zines, make more, or swap some with a friend!

Homework:

• Bring a few photos to share of where you grew up (town or city, your house etc.) around the time you were growing up. We will go around and share memories of the places we lived when we were younger.
• Upload (or send me) pictures of your zines to the google drive folder

& Symbols of Identity