I arrived at the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū for the WORD Christchurch discussion between Bryce Galloway and Brannavan Gnanalingam early with a plan to casually wander through Ōtautahi Zinefest and snap a few photos. But, within minutes the part of me that loves zines and artistic expression took over and I found myself admiring peoples work and having some very nice small talk with the vendors, some of them the artists, some of them a kind person holding the stall on behalf of. I ended up with a few photos… but mostly a paper bag filled with zines, stickers and one miniature lino print on raw handmade paper.
Among my favourites vendors were Sarah McCook-Weir, their zines were collections of themed images from their sketchbooks. Two zines Bird Girl Era and Little Windows came home with me. Then there was Jewelia Howard, their publications had many themes from reality TV romance, to life drawings and personal narratives, their mini zine titled Chronic Fatigue moved me with its simple cover illustration and poetry inside.
The discussion between Bryce Galloway and fellow author Brannavan Gnanalingam was held just off the foyer inside the Art Gallery while Zinefest was running, I headed in and took a seat to listen. Brannavan welcomed us all and introduced Bryce as they both took a seat to talk about Zines NZ: Punk to Present, Bryce's recently published book about the forty-year history of zine making in Aotearoa.
Brannavan began the chat by asking Bryce “Why Zines”? Bryce explains how he’d discovered zines in the 80s and 90s, then zines represented punk rock journalism, and were mostly made by bands who were ignored by mainstream journalistic writers. As a musician himself, Bryce did his own press creating his first zine. It was deposited around town, left in cafes and galleries, sometimes invited sometimes uninvited which added energy of the process.
As the discussion moved along, Bryce talked about how he went on to explore zines from an academic perspective, with a Masters to complete he began asking the question ‘What are the politics of zines?’ This led to a book being made under duress for the university system. More recently, his second book Zines NZ arose from a curiosity to know where zines came from. It was intentionally created and published in interview style, some interviewees Bryce already had in mind, and others he discovered in his search of diverse voices in the community. There were some surprises along the way, like learning of New Plymouth's strong historical presence in the underground Punk Rocker scene!
In response to Brannavan’s question on why he’s kept going, Bryce said he has a natural and persistent drive to keep making per-zines. This began at a point when ideas were thin, at a loss he wrote a personal narrative (per-zine), and people loved it! Bryce noticed the worse he felt about what he was sharing it the more people it captured. He embraced the feeling of embarrassment began playing with the psychology of that emotion.
Brannavan suggested as a question that making zines could be a way for an artist to test things out, or to springboard a new idea? Bryce thought this isn't necessarily always the case as zines can be revealing as they are made. I think of Bird Girl Era and Litttle Windows as they are both made from pages of Sarahs sketch books, sketch books are often places for playing with ideas but turned into a zine they make a completed thing.
The two writers discussed the impact of internet and AI on zines as Bryce tells us how he made his first zine in 2002, "in peak blogosphere". For him at this time the idea of approximate reach and neighbourhood reach was nice, as was making a finite number that didn’t add to the noise on the net.
Bryce described some zines as a way to express and explore personal journeys of identity. They can create a safe space for people to have those conversations, almost like passing a note. I think is why I felt moved by Jewelia’s mini zine on chronic fatigue as it’s not often I come across such a frank account of the syndrome's impact.
Bryce commented that with events like Zinefest there is little anonymity, while browsing the tables people will also likely meet the artist, so you are engaging in their work before them. This experience can create a vulnerability that’s intrinsic to zine culture and because of this its generally not a space reflective of AI.
The conversation wrapped up with a few questions followed by Bryce signing copies of his book. Outside Zinefest was still running, it was nice to head back into the market atmosphere, it slowly quietened down as sun got a little lower in the gallery foyer.
Katrina, Matatiki Hornby Centre
Photos
Zines
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