Zine is Believing: Subcultural Self-Expression Survives via Niche Publications

I get to explain a recent obsession of mine, the art of zine, originally published here.

Do-It-Yourself culture has become synonymous with HGTV, garden planters made from recycled boots and Etsy-inspired jewelry making. However, a few decades ago, DIY was an ethos ascribed to by underground punks, and later riot grrrl feminism, as a way to catch a breather from the heavy hand of The Man (i.e. capitalistic consumption). With artists struggling to make it, mediocre rock bands being launched into super fame by mega labels, and writers needing to sign book deals at corporate bookstores, some youth movements took their art into their own hands, saying, “I can make this myself. And I will.”

Enter the zine, or fanzine. Zines are small, handcrafted magazines circulated throughout a relatively tiny clientele (at least, before the widespread accessibility of the Internet), typically among those united by a shared interest. The topics are quite broad, be it comics, anti-Cosmopolitan fashion, politics or “How to Start a Band,” but all zines are self-published mainly using low-budget methods like photocopiers.

Oh, and the main point is that there isn’t one: profit isn’t in the set of objectives, but connecting with like-minded individuals and finding a channel for self-expression is. Additionally, copyrights aren’t included either, as reproduction and remix culture play a large part in the content and production of DIY. For a much better definition of these eclectic phenomena, check out thedescription of the NYC Zine Fest.

With the prominence and ease of self-publishing, online zines have been able to connect with like-minded individuals regardless of geography. This pervasiveness has since allowed certain zines to reach an influential status among niche communities.

For example, zine cum magazine Bitch has become a coffee table staple for academics in the world of Women’s and Gender Studies, but the publication is still very important to feminist and women’s rights movements, as well as to female-driven media overall. It allows multiple voices, interested in related issues, to discourse freely about the nuances within movements like feminism and what hurdles women and LGBT citizens still face.

Bitch also pushes the boundaries of discussion regarding sex, politics, art and the media, addressing ways in which the typical notions of such aspects of society often impose upon and oppress its minority members. Thus, even with its much larger readership, Bitch manages to accomplish what zines of the past have done, and its online content retains the hodge-podge feel of a self-published print version.

While many zines are related to grassroots grrrl efforts, not all of them are, and just as many have progressed into web fandom. For instance, did you know the popular nerd culture website BoingBoing was once a small-circulation zine? All four Boing Boing contributors are, or have been, contributing writers for Wired magazine, as well, exemplifying the collaborative nature of zines. Dazed Digital was born into a collage-esque website from its zine seedling Dazed and Confused.

Though many zines have found their way to a specialized corner of the web, many zines are still operating in old print style. Less famous but pretty cool is the Dum Dum Zine, which combines art, poetry and music and retains the zine aesthetic with visually striking PDF issues (a popular format for web distributed zines that allows the old school look and feel while still calling the Internet home).

The aforementioned Etsy features pages upon pages of zinesters selling their ideas and feelings, as well as their artistic ingenuity, to fellow DIYers. One featured publication seems particularly pertinent to today’s youth, namely The Radical Uprise Zine. Another site,ZineWorld, offers news on publishing, access to featured zines and help with distributing small-scale print mags all over the world (though certainly not the only resource that offers this service). ZineWiki acts as a curator for all there is to know about zines.

L.A. Zine Fest exhibits hundreds of California zines for the curious public, and other major cities, like Toronto and NYC, are doing similar things to place zine creators in line with other types of artists.

PRISM is a Kickstarter project looking for funding for a handmade mixed media zine. “The goal of this publication is to create a collage of current art/culture scenes from throughout the U.S. and the world…[it] seeks to establish a platform for multi-media sharing through the tactile, aural and visual experience of print, images, sounds (CD) and movies (DVD) and to extend and elaborate those expressions through its online presence.” It reached its goal in June, so be on the lookout for this artistic and innovative gem.

What can we expect from the zine of the future? Likely the same vitality as always.“Despite what you’ve heard, zines aren’t dead.” Not hardly.