Hosted by the Untitled Creative Arts Collective, Loyola New Orleans’ first ever zine show will take place on Thursday, Oct. 20 on the fourth floor of the Monroe Library. Although the show is hosted by the Creative Arts Collective, it will be assembled and presented by the senior capstone class of the design department. Heading the show is Daniela Marx, professor of graphic design at Loyola, who is overlooking the exhibit’s anticipated debut. This exhibition will showcase zines from around the country and from all age groups.
Though many people have seen a zine, they might not have known at the time that what they were had a specific name. “Zines,” short for magazines, are small-scale, independently-made magazines, usually by marginalized and minority groups. Popularized by the nineteen seventies punk scene, zines are a place where people can talk about politics, war issues and the injustices they face. An artistic medium where smaller voices can be heard,
zines have stood the test of time.
According to Marx, “The purpose of this show is to invite anyone and everyone.”
Some of the zines which will be featured are small booklets filled with “cottagecore” inspired images, others were darker and larger booklets filled with pictures of people and extensive text.
This show will be an approachable way to spread zines to a wider audience. “We want to show creativity in writing, design and art and people from different backgrounds,” Marx said. The show is also a way to draw in prospective students who are interested in art and design, according to Marx.
“Why not have a show for the people?” Marx said.
A participant of the show, Caesar Meadows, is a recently retired civil service worker and New Orleans native who has been making zines since the 1990s.
“I love making and crafting my own limited run comix, because it allows me to experiment with different formats and materials that would be too cost prohibitive in large run prints,” Meadows said. Comix are also small-scale literary works.
A zine edition is usually only printed less than five thousand times and some are printed only 30 copies or editions in total. The number of prints is up to the creator of each individual piece.
“Small press zines and comix tend to be very personal expressions from a singular artist/writer,” Meadows said. “I like to believe that my comix brings folks a bit of momentary joy like when one puffs on a daffodil bloom.”
In the future, Marx said she hopes that the design department can collaborate with the library to have a show for the archived zines.
“We can make it a teaching exhibition, not just for what’s going on today, but what was going on in the past,” Marx said.