#cherry styles

[brigidelva]

💩 'warm and it stinks like shit. If passion was a substance i would say it is dark brown, and then blood red'- Eileen Myles

[downthetubes]

One Beat Zines announces third anthology, "Identity" will launch at Thought Bubble

One Beat Zines announces third anthology, “Identity” will launch at Thought Bubble

Cover by Julia Scheele One Beat Zines, thezine-making collective/distro run by Sarah Broadhurst and Julia Scheele has announced the impending release of their third anthology since they launched almost exactly one year ago. Identity – available for pre-order from the OBZ shop – is a book full of varied and diverse female voices writing and/or drawing about who they are, how they see themselves…

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[queenofthetrackzine]

Zine-Queen: Talking DIY with the Self-Published Super Force - Cherry Styles

For our DIY themed series of features to coincide with FACT’s ‘Build your Own...’ exhibition, Queen of the Track caught up with the DIY powerhouse Cherry Styles. Founder of The Chapess zine as well as Synchronise Witches, Cherry co-organised the first North West Zine Fest that took place this May in Manchester, and makes up one quarter of the Salford Zine Library team. Cherry's work is inclusive and ambitious, and in 2016 she'll be publishing her first book. As if that wasn't enough, Cherry has recently relaunched her website www.cherrystyles.co.uk.   A leading light of the UK's zine scene, and enthusiastic champion of female artists and writers, we talked to Cherry about her forthcoming projects, future ambitions and the future of The Chapess.

You're going to be publishing a book - tell us more about it!

Yes! The Chapess zine will be coming up to 10 issues this year and i'm going to be releasing an anthology type thing – all of my favourite bits so far plus some brand new stuff. I'm aiming for spring 2016 – WATCH THIS SPACE! The Chapess has been my main project for the last couple of years and now I really want to focus on publishing new collections through Synchronise Witches and maybe re-think the way I produce the Chapess. From incredibly humble beginnings in 2011, and with the help of the internet of course, the zine has evolved into an online and offline network and a real community has built up around it which feels just as important as the printed zine; it kind of belongs to all of us now.

QOTT recently saw you at northwest zinefest which you organised- what was that experience like? 

Oh man so good. Me and Ingrid (of Mythologising Me zine) have recently joined the Salford Zine Library team so along with Steve and Liz (of Young Explorer zine) we decided to organise the first Northwest Zinefest. Steve and Liz have been running the zine library for a few years now and Ingrid is just a total superwoman, it was an absolute dream team and I feel super lucky I get to work with them on stuff like this. We really wanted to put on an event that was as inclusive and friendly as possible, and that really reflected the DIY nature of zine culture as we see it. It was also a great excuse to get a load of our zinester buds together in Manchester for the weekend! We had some great feedback from punters and stallholders alike and we're excited to make it an annual event, in the meantime we're also looking to start putting on zine readings and socials. It's an exciting time for Salford Zine Library!


You run synchronise witches zine distribution- how did that start? 

A lot of the zines I love and have loved over the years are American; ever increasing postage costs mean it's just too expensive to indulge in $2 zines so I got to thinking if I was buying a single zine I could really buy a few copies for the same amount of postage and share the cost with some mates. I had been selling other folks zines along with my own at fairs for a while and wanted to start something a bit different/rather than just duplicating the stock of some of the great UK zine distro’s that were already running.

Since October 2014 Synchronise Witches has carried a regularly updated collection of zines and self published works, most of them US titles with an emphasis on writing by women and perzines (personal zines). This has been, and will continue to be totally reflective of the stuff i'm into at any given time and i'm always on the look out for new stock. I'm also hoping to start releasing original collections as well too.

Your work seems to thrive in places of female community- can you tell us how important it is for you to work with other women? and whether your ideas about this have changed over time?

In the beginning especially it was a very conscious decision that the Chapess would be by women for other women. I felt like I knew all these amazing folks doing great work and maybe I wanted an excuse to rave about them and share that with others. It was also a way in, to be friends with other women, which at the time I felt like I needed. I had grown up in a pretty average small town punk scene which looking back was totally dude dominated but wasn't something I ever considered till I grew up and got out. The Chapess has always run on an open submission policy, underlining the need for opportunities for women artists to show their work, particularly those who've not taken a route of education or training which had otherwise encouraged them to do so. Creative expression is not gendered but confidence can be, and having your work included in a zine can be a gentle first step for a some people.

It could be argued that in creating a female-only platform we are in fact increasing the divide between men and women's work, something which some feminists are not interested in being a part of, but I think it's important to have a platform for us to experiment. Zines can be a great vehicle to kind of work out what you're into, where your works fits and what works for you; there are no stakes. Which is maybe where i'm at now, I want the Chapess to continue to act as that springboard for as many women as possible but i've maybe reached a point where i'm ready to branch out. Eileen Myles said; ‘I don’t want to be published by a female press. I don’t want to be published by a gay press. I want my gay work to get into your space’, and I think about that a lot. More and more I think it should be a given that we are all feminists and maybe the stuff that isn't is the stuff that should be labelled.

So where do you see The Chapess heading? do you think you'd ever reach a point where you accepted submissions from men- or will The Chapess remain a haven for women's creative endeavour?

No. At the moment the zine accepts submissions from people that identify as anything other than male; it's more about making a space for the rest of us and helping each other to understand what it means to be living in a world which by default often actively works against us. By its nature a compilation zine will always bring together people with different views and experiences; our lived experience brings us together but we're not all necessarily coming from the same places which i think is what makes the project interesting. My hope is that the zine itself is a safe space where those who contribute will do so in confidence that their work will be shown in an appropriate and sensitive manner - and without the male intervention that permeates so much of everyday life. Plenty of guys read and enjoy the zine which is great, but that's about as involved as i think they need to get.

Its interesting you mention Eileen Myles- what else are you reading at the moment? is there anything you'd recommend to QOTT readers?

Eileen is someone I always come back to, as well as Chris Kraus ('I Love Dick' is a classic) and Kathy Acker ('I'm Very Into You' came out recently on Sexiotexte and is made up entirely of emails sent between Kathy and Makenzie Wark in the mid 90s – literally everything i'm after in a book)

Also Lisa Carver of Rollerderby Zine/Suckdog is another of my all time favs, her latest book 'How To Not Write' is fucking excellent. Each chapter is kind of an assignment, like Lisa is your personal mentor getting you out of your writing rut. The chapters are called things like 'get welts' and 'fumble in the dark with fat fingers; find a surprise.'

This week i'm waiting on an order for the distro from Pioneers Press in Kansas of Rachel Bell's new chapbook 'Welcome To Your New Life With You Being Happy' which I'm really excited about. When it came out earlier this month she asked her high school bully to write a review of it (the cover is a cropped photo of her as a teenager) - he was like 'there are some things in there that maybe you shouldn't tell people. It was really gross reading the sex bits'

Through making zines i'm lucky enough that a lot of writers who I love actually end up becoming my mates which still blows my mind a little bit. Alyssa Rorke and Sara Sutterlin have both been instumental in the development of the Chapess and my own writing; we're actually all working on something together at the moment which will be in the next issue of Alyssa's comp zine Letters From Bummer Camp.

You seem to be pretty much working on your dream projects- but is there anything else you'd like to achieve with zines in the near future?

I think just to keep on making them. Self publishing by its nature is a political act and I think anything that pushes against the mainstream and offers people an alternative will always be worthwhile.

[wearepioneerspress]

The Chapess Zine and Synchronize Witches Press + Zine Distro gets a new website!

Check it here: 

http://cherrystyles.co.uk/

This is another great place to get Pioneers Press stuff if you live in the UK and not have to pay overseas shipping!

[lettersfrombummercamp-blog]

Copies of the new issue of The CHAPESS are here!!! Get one @ zinefeast

[thechapess]

'The Chapess zine was started by Zara Gardner in the summer of 2011. At the time we were both working in the art department of a rural college and would often introduce zines to our students to help engage them in design, research methods and self publishing. The first issue of the Chapess included contributions from female students and staff and we encouraged the kids to make their own zines in response. Being both hardened feminists and old skool zinesters the collaboration between me and Z came about quite naturally and the zine has bounced back and forth between us ever since.

When i took over as sole editor last year I wanted to use the Chapess as a platform to champion some of the amazing female writers i had been introduced through running my zine distro Synchronise Witches, as well as the work of photographers + artists i loved. I wanted to produce something which spoke to young women (especially) in a format that was accessible and trusted. i have been making zines for over 10 years and have never for a second doubted the power of DIY publishing; total creative freedom with plenty of room to fuck it up + start again.

 Each issue of the Chapess showcases the work of women of all ages from around the world, employing an open submission policy, underlining the need for opportunities for female artists to show their work, particularly those who have not taken a route of education or training which had otherwise encouraged them to do so. creative expression is not gendered but confidence can be!

 So far this year I have published the work of around 100 female artists and writers and led workshops, lectures and educational sessions exploring creativity, self publishing and feminist activism at a grassroots level. Issue 6 is about to be released and we're throwing a party at Doomed Gallery in Dalston. The exhibition has actually started to feel like the show i've been curating in my head since i was a teenager, as finally I'm in the position to be surrounded by incredible, creative women making work, having a laugh + supporting one another - which is the punkest thing ever, right?!'

Cherry Styles, editor December 2014

[lettersfrombummercamp-blog]

We have issues #4 and #5 of The Chapess! Grab a copy next time we’re tabling!

[thechapess]