Notts Zine Fest | 2018
I finally made it! After 3 years of missing this event, I have finally attended the Notts Zine Fest. If you're thinking ‘what the hell is a zine?!’ - I've got you!
A zine is a self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images. It's basically a magazine that is focused around a certain theme which includes artwork and articles based around it. Nottingham has a strong zine culture with Dizzy Ink, Raw Print and Ideas on Paper located in the centre producing and selling amazing original pieces of work.
The Zine Fest occurs once a year where self-publishers, artists and creatives from Nottingham and nearby get together to share their work. There was some poetry, live DJ, talks from publishers and even a collage making workshop. A table full of magazines, scissors and glue sticks. The ultimate dream for a creative.
It was really nice to meet the people behind the magazines and chat about the causes they are supporting. I'd especially like to give a shoutout to the Boshemia team, I picked up one of their magazines a while ago from Rough Trade and picked up the other two at the event. The Boshemia magazine is a bi-annual publication, exploring art and culture through a feminist lens. It always features engaging articles and the visual layout is amazing! I do love a good magazine, I've been building my collection now for a while but it's always nice to have some gems like these.
I also met the Femme Fatale girls selling their zine featuring beautiful art, photography and articles about women empowerment. Femme Fatale are a community raising money for the Nottinghamshire Women's Aid and empowering women from the articles they share on their website to hosting local events. I'm really looking forward to catching up with Kayyah from Femme Fatale today to talk about communities and all things women empowerment. It's an area that I'm researching for my final year dissertation project so it would be great to hear from them. If you're interested in what I picked up from the event I will be sharing some bits on my instagram at some point so keep your eye out for that.