Sitting in the studio looking at books and prints that I bought/traded at BCZF, I still cannot believe it’d happened after a long travel back and forth from Norwich to Bristol.
(right: Nicolas Stevenson, left: Mari Campistron)
(print that I traded with Sofia from Rabbits Road Press)
I think one of the benefits of doing a tour is that you get to see people whose work inspire you. I’m working on my dissertation on Independent publishing with three points - 1. why, 2. how (any limitation of digital commons) 3. where (how riso helps). It is heavily referencing Rabbits road press and their work at manor part as well as their side projects including their trip to Malaysia to look at indie zine scenes in Malay. During the conversation with Sofia, I brought up my mini-trip to New malden which was prompted by a documentary about North Korean refugee living in New malden area. I was first so intrigued by the stats - UK is the second largest country for North Korean refugee’s population after South Korea.
Just as a side note before going into the main, the trip was impressive. They had signs in Korean as well as English and H mart that we went to had North Korean words for the decryption of food which even to me was slightly foreign.
Even the cafes we went to were decorated with Korean’s taste. e.g. Tea shops with small scones with loads of whipped cream just as how we like in South Korea.
Going back to the main bit, Sofia found it so curious and encouraged me to research more about indie publishing scenes in Seoul and what the unique character is. That was something that I’ve always interested in - last summer when I was in Seoul, Yonhee and I went to indie bookshops and discussed how fast things are created and changed in the scene eating olives and bread.
I also met Hamja, the author of Shy Radicals. Conversation was so valuable and he gave a talk about D.I.Y culture; zine history and making zines as sub-cultures and remapping zine worlds in Asia and Africa. He even mentioned how he’d like to visit Norwich to give a talk if invited! It really made me think about possibility of hosting a zine fair in Norwich so I can invite incredible people to Norwich.
It was also good to see people being interested in my work. This time, I had more reasonable goods like £1 riso postcards, £2 pamphlet zines and cheap prints. They drew more younger audiences who seem to be drawn by the covers of those zines. My feeding zine also seemed to communicate well this time. I am thinking of making a 2nd version of Feeding which would be about looking at food in the cinematic setting through the angle of queerness.
From this trip, I feel more energised and purposed. For Brighton fair, I’d love to make more greeting cards and at least a book that can also accommodate my illustrations well.
