All About Zines: January Issue

All About Zines: January Issue by Katia DermottJanuary 12, 2025

© Stefano Tripodi, Sudario #2, self-published, 2016

“Balancing between reminiscence and evocation, this publication explores the interplay of memory and the specter—at times emotional, at times cathartic. Through this editorial project, images are collectively woven into a fictional narrative enriched by diverse photographic and textual contributions. It examines how each individual’s sensitive vision converges into a shared story, how intersecting tales are told through imagery. Absorber les fantômes invites reflection on our relationships with others and our sense of place in space and time. Here, images transform into ghosts, carrying echoes of the past into the present. In their silent presence, we encounter stillness, guided by even the faintest lights that illuminate the journey forward.”

Edition of 100
Printed on newspaper 60gr
48 pages + a double sided poster
Text by Fiona Segadães Da Silva, Estelle Majani, and cornflower

Contributing artists: Alexiane Trapp, Aline Darras, Anna Haillot, Aurélia Behr, bleuet, Estelle Majani, Fiona Segadães Da Silva, Gaël Forcet, Hortense Raynaud, Julie Carré, Juliette Morisse, Lise Dua, Lucie Boucher, Pierre-Marie Drapeau-Marin, Quentin Fromont, Roméo Dini, Sam Lomprez, Shanna Warocquier, Théo Guézennec

© Fiona Segadães Da Silva, Absorb Ghosts, cahier des lucioles, 2023

When I asked Fiona Segadães Da Silva of cahier des lucioles why she makes zines, Fiona wrote:

I make zines because they are vessels for untamed thoughts, a way to inscribe meaning onto the fragile fabric of existence. They hold the unspoken, the fragmented, the fleeting. A zine is a whispered secret, a scream into the void, a quiet rebellion against impermanence.

I weave together ghosts of memory, fleeting sparks, and the resonance of untold stories. They are canvases for questions, for vulnerability, for worlds that have yet to come into being. Each page becomes a conversation, an offering, a touch. A zine is a space where silence speaks, where the margins breathe, and where creation feels sacred.

To make a zine is to trust in the power of small things—the weight of a hand-folded corner. It’s a way to tether myself to others across distances and time, to form constellations from scattered stars.

Sudario Issue No. 2

“Sudario is a self-produced fanzine curated by The View from Lucania, an organization founded in 2010 by Stefano Tripodi and based in Southern Italy. The magazine aims to strip Southern Italy of the clichés often associated with its imagery, revealing its shadows and lights while exploring the folds of its natural and human landscapes. This exploration seeks to uncover a shared sense of purpose and collective action.

Each issue is a carefully curated collection of images and projects by a diverse selection of photographers and artists. The works are juxtaposed without textual guidance, offering readers a pure editing and artistic curatorial experience. Sudario is as much about what is absent as what is present, allowing the audience to navigate the pages freely, creating their own interpretations.

Sudario Issue No. 2 was produced in only 60 numbered copies. Currently, I only have two or three copies left, which are reserved for journalists, as this issue quickly sold out worldwide.

The latest issue #3, however, dedicated to an Italian-American hermit who isolated himself in a cave on the Ionian coast of Calabria, still has several copies available. This is partly due to the focus on a lesser-known figure, which garnered less immediate attention despite being one of the most beautiful and emotionally resonant editions.“

Conceived and curated by Stefano Tripodi
Designed and printed in Risograph by ATTO studio

Contributing artists: Martin Errichiello, Filippo Menichetti, Valerio Spada, Taiyo Onorato + Nico Krebs, Michael Sieber

© Stefano Tripodi, Sudario Issue No. 2, self-published, 2016

When I asked Stefano Tripodi why he makes zines, Stefano wrote:

When asked why fanzines, the answer is simple: necessity. These delicate and elegant editorial projects arise from an intimate need to communicate. In my case, it’s the South of Italy—a deep desire to narrate its axioms, its darker moods, and its essence. Sudario is driven by this profound need to tell a story, one page at a time.

Encased: Topic of the Transient

“ENCASED Topic of the Transient features temporary elements that shape an informal landscape, redefining the ways we experience space and time. From the scaffolds of societal change, to the mundane articles that congregate society, these temporal indicators are a by-product of our man-made environment.

Divided into chapters of varying transient morphologies, the images can be interpreted as a continuous narrative of our transient territories, encasing the potential of transformation within and redeveloping current grounds for future improvements.”

Contributing artists: Shawn Lee

© Shawn Lee, Encased: Topic of the Transient, self-published, 2024

When I asked Shawn Lee of Narrative Forms why he makes zines, Shawn wrote:

narrativeforms started as a response to my growing passions for things outside of my Master Degree in Architecture, from graphic layouts to packaging and marketing. However, the brand became a research platform, utilising architecture as the foundational lens in which I analyse the world, and narrating my findings through means of my other hobbies. narrativeforms is based in Singapore, exploring illustrations, hand-bound zines, photography, and object curation.

I started making zines as a way to expand some of the research I have done in school, using images that I have taken from my travels and pieces of information that I have learnt and am interested in learning. An avenue of research and curation makes zine-making a highly apt visual and narrative tool to convey and inform readers of the phenomenon of the quotidian. The focus of the brand is an extension of my odd fascination with the temporal; objects/spaces/atmospheres that exists in the now and is constantly under threat by modernism and careless progress. From disappearing spaces, the mutation of historical architecture, to the politics of nature in Singapore, my zines explore this interstitial space of the everyday, analyzing moments that are often overlooked and under-appreciated.

Solar Recordings of Phone Calls with Family Members, Friends, and Scammers

“In Solar recordings of phone calls with family members, friends, and scammers Bart Urbanski uses long exposure times to document the movement of the sun. The length of the exposure causes the film to solarize, which turns the sun’s path into a dark, vaguely extraterrestrial, streak; cleaving across the sky in each frame. The exact time of each exposure is determined by the duration of specific phone calls allowing inferences to be made about the nature of the relationship and conversation that each photograph records. By reducing the photographic process to its most fundamental elements of light and time, these solar recordings encourage a deeper consideration of our connections with others by translating shared moments into visual representations.

The publication was Xerox printed on Mohawk Superfine paper and perfectly bound with a French fold. It includes some fun extras including a letter-pressed index which shows the shape of each sun and the length of each exposure, a blind embossed cover, and an extra print of an image that did not make it into the book. The afterward was written by Sarah LaPonte and is in Polish and English. The design was a collaboration by Helen Jones and Sarah LaPonte.”

36 pages
perfect bound
2nd Edition of 50
letterpressed cover, index, and bonus print

Contributing artists: Bart Urbanski

© Pine Island Press, Solar Recordings of Phone Calls with Family Members, Friends, and Scammers, 2024

When I asked Helen Jones of Pine Island Press why they makes zines, Helen wrote:

I think a lot of what we make, including Solar Recordings, is somewhere between a book and a zine, but has the spirit of a zine. They are small runs, and that allows you to experiment with various printing or binding techniques. We will combine Xerox or inkjet printed pages with letterpress or screen printed elements, include inserts or foldouts, hand-sew spines, etc. Working in the zine world gives us that freedom, and hopefully makes the work accessible.