Issue Online by Aisha Kaan

ONE OF MY KIND ISSUE TWO: PRINT

GUERILLA GIRLS

SORAYA SYED

- SARA SALEM

- ROSIE MARTIN

Editor & curator Sofia Niazi Designer & curator Rose Nordin

Assistant Editor Heiba Lamara Supported by Sabba Khan & Hudda Khaireh Issue two, Autumn 2013. Cover image by Alana Questell. ÂŠOOMK Zine. If you wish to reproduce any content from OOMK Zine please contact the relevant artist/s listed. For submissions, advertising and press queries please contact: oomkzine@gmail.com Facebook: OOMK Zine Twitter: @oomkzine www.oomk.net

“Art may be the only space a women can be whole without being seen” - Nayyirah Waheed

ILLUSTRATION + 18. CHRISTINE ROSCH + 66. MEHWISH IQBAL + 92. AMY LAMBERT

+ 24. ALANA QUESTELL + 68. MERYEM MEG

+ 62. SOFIA NIAZI

+ 78. MAHWISH CHISHTY

+ 103. LEILA ABDUL RAZZAQ

+ 108. ROSE NORDIN

PRINT + 07. DAKSHEETA PATTNI + 50. SEE RED

+ 08. EMILY EVANS + 41. GUERILLA GIRLS

+ 71. STRIKE

+ 76. FLORENCE SHAW

+ 68. LIMNER JOURNAL

+ 86. SORAYA SYED

+ 93. ALEESHA NANDHRA

WRITTEN WORDS + 14. HEIBA LAMARA

+ 20. HANNAH HABIBI HOPKIN

+ 34. FATEMA ZEHRA + 40. AURELLA YUSSUF + 64. SARA SALEM

+ 94. RACHAEL HOPKIN

+ 46. HANA RIAZ + 101. HADEEL ELTAYEB

PHOTOGRAPHY + 30. ROSE NORDIN + 49. SABBA KHAN

+ 36. ABBAS ZAHEDI + 83. AYA HAIDAR

+ 39. FARAH ELAHI

+ 98. HOURIA NIATI

MORE + 26. ROSIE MARTIN

+ 58. NASREEN RAJA

+ 80. PATRICK GALLAGHER

+ 90. FUAD ALI

+ 70. CHRISTINE BJERKE + 104. RABIAH ABDULLA

In our second issue, we discover a world of creatives and collectives who are making impressions with print. Their involvement and engagement with print processes as a tool of expression and communication is a testament to the power and enduring role of print in art and activism. From the books that open our hearts, to the adverts that wall paper our cities, to the leaflets that stir us to action - print moves around us and we move around it.

SURVEILLANCE DAKSHEETA PATTNI

Daksheeta Pattni’s intricate A3 lino prints based ‘surveillance’ are intriguing. Her research for the project shed light on a society

under constant watch. Looking closely at biometric fingerprints as a form of identity, Daksheeta produced a style similar to that of overlaid fingerprints on the derelict buildings. www.cargocollective.com/daksheetapattni

ROSE NORDIN

Emily Evans relies on found printed matter and the photocopying process in her illustrations. She pieces together entirely new worlds from

toner and a scalpel. She discusses the dark power of print with OOMK. “Print plays a massive part in my creative process. I am drawn to very tactile images and a hands on approach to working, photocopying to

create textures, layouts and images to collage with is the first thing I do to start a project.”

+ What is it that enchants you about photocopying?

I really like the unpredictability of old photocopiers, the texture and mistakes they add in the

process. Ultimately I’m a bit of

hoarder and making loads of copies of images and collages makes me really happy.

+ What can you obtain through photocopying that you can’t through other mediums?

The immediacy is amazing. I love the way copies can be painted on top of without bleeding, which

ceremonial plate. You suddenly have this beautiful texture or

pattern which you can then cut up and create something new from and no one knows how you got it. I

created some textures for an album by photocopying the sides of old

books which had gold on the pages, like some religious books do, and I got these beautiful lines and

textures. Yeah, so secret textures really please me!

+ You must have an extensive

collection of printed ephemera. What are your favourites?

allows me to continue to add paint

I often end up buying a lot of

textures you can get if you blow

brought some amazing old books for

many times. I love the secret up a tiny picture of a Polish 10

hat to 600%, or the corner of a

books at library sales and I’ve

20p. It’s so sad that some books

aren’t valued or deemed as relevant enough for libraries to keep any more.

+ The library plays a significant part of your process. What are your favorite libraries to work in?

I personally really like South London libraries, as they always have better collections in addition to a focus on local history. Brixton

library is the cheapest at 5p per A4 copy; it sounds ridiculous, but

at Kilburn library it’s 20p per A4 copy. It may seem like nothing but

when you’re spending £10 pounds in a week or a day compared to £40, you really see the difference. I find Brixton far better for working in as it has a great space and also prints on recycled paper. Upper Norwood library is also amazing; they have a really old collection and still

use a typewriter to hand type the little stickers that go on the books as well as having a paper catalogue.

+ Your work is a powerful argument against the closure of libraries in the UK. How do you feel about the issue?”

It’s terrible. Libraries are important hubs for whole communities;

book groups, family reading sessions, training events...the list of

events that go on at libraries is endless. Closing down libraries is inexcusable, since the benefit they provide for generations of people is so very vast.

+ Who are your female heroes, whether it be in art, life or music. Delia Derbyshire is a big hero of mine; she

did what she wanted to do

and was a genius. The music she created is incredible as well as being decades ahead of her time. I admire women like the New York MC, Jean Grae. She takes no prisoners and is always true to her music; one of my favourite MCs. Georgia Anne Muldrow is an amazing music producer,

I love everything she does. I also admire Tina Turner, for having the most successful part of her career happen after her forties. That

always makes me sit up when I’m feeling shit; there’s often a lot of

pressure to be smashing everything you do by your early twenties these days, you just shouldn’t be afraid of growing and learning.

+ You create stunning personal work in tandem with thoughtful and

prolific commercial work. What are the main themes you like to explore in both areas of your creative practice?

I really enjoy exploring quite dark topics, but recently a lot of my

work has touched on music projects and space aesthetics in particular. Sometimes, after doing quite dark work, I just need a bit of time off to try new, playful things. I realised recently that I enjoy using

images symbolically, touching on a lot of what are, often, quite simple images. I think it’s because I love psychology, trying to figure out

the mind’s ability to think and unpicking associations visually. Being able to boil a complicated concept down to a few visuals intrigues me and is something I’m constantly trying to improve on. www.emilye.co.uk

STREET LIGHTS EMILY EVANS

WATCH THE ANTS EMILY EVANS

HEIBA LAMARA

The name of John La Rose is synonymous with independent radical Black publishing in Britain and the Caribbean. A committed trade unionist, activist, and poet in his native Trinidad, La Rose came to London in 1961 with sophisticated ideas on the relationship between print and politics formed by the anti-colonial struggles in the Caribbean.

The power of British imperialism

radical Black publishing houses

the Caribbean stemmed not only

Haringey. They contributed to

and colonialism in Africa and from physical force, but from its ability to Name. Like the

flora and fauna, the indigenous

people of these “new” lands were cut, catalogued, and classified. The data accumulated assisted in

consolidating Britain’s power and its ability to manufacture and regulate what was known about “Others” and through colonial

educational practice, what they were allowed to know about

in 1966, from their bedsit in the momentum of radical Black

activity and debate taking place internationally. They brought back out-of-print works and

rare works which illustrated

the themes and concerns of New

Beacon. Their first publication, a volume of La Rose’s poems, Foundations, served as a

declaration of historical consciousness.

themselves. The printing press,

La Rose, Barbadian poet,

become the machine through

Kamau Braithwaite and Jamaica

introduced in the 1400’s, which new narratives were

recorded; publishers became the channel through which they were disseminated.

“The old publishing firms”, La

Rose wrote to a friend in 1969,

“[…] grew up within the colonial preferential market, and not

only gave us the word but told

us how to use it”. Having grown up within a colonial society, he envisioned a tradition

of publishing which gave “an independent validation of

one’s own culture, history, and

politics”. Publication, he wrote, “implies autonomy and initiativethe validation of ourselves.

That’s why I founded New Beacon Books”.

John La Rose and his partner, Sarah White, launched New

Beacon, one of Britain’s first

literary critic and historian poet, novelist, academic and

broadcaster Andrew Salkey formed the pioneering Caribbean Artist Movement. Using their Honda 50

as transport, La Rose and White sold New Beacon publications

at CAM events, in addition to

distributing friend’s writing, or facilitating their requests

for books. The Caribbean Artist Movement grew into a major

literary and cultural movement and assisted in generating a

cultural resurgence among West

Indians living in Britain. As a result of the demand for books CAM produced, New Beacon grew

through an informal distribution network into a booksellers and international book service.

Sarah White describes how the book-laden bedsit, the site of New Beacon activity for

many years, gave way to larger premises in 1969. While the

third floor was rented out to a lodger and the second floor was

used for living, the bottom floor of their new house was converted

into a shop front for New Beacon Books. The house became a landmark for readers, thinkers and doers from all walks of life, and it

wasn’t unusual to be disturbed late at night by someone hoping to buy a book. In the archives, several correspondents recall with

fondness the kitchen table at No.2 Albert Road, a place of impromptu discussion and debate where new and important ideas were born around cups of tea.

New Beacon Books became a hub for local community activism and as an independent publishing initiative, played a vital role in the struggle Black people faced against police brutality,

criminalisation, unemployment and racism in Britain. Among many initiatives, La Rose and White were part of the Black Education

Movement in the 1960’s which agitated for better state education and founded the George Padmore Supplementary School for West

Indian Children in 1969. New Beacon’s first best-seller would be

Bernard Coard's ground-breaking ‘How the West Indian Child is Made

Educationally Sub-Normal in the British School System’. The nationwide Alliance of the Black Parents Movement that emerged from the 18

Black Education Movement would become “the most powerful cultural and political movement organised by black people in Britain”.

In addition to social and educational reform, New Beacon worked with Black publishing peers, Race Today Publications and Bogle

L'Ouverture Publications in pioneering the International Book Fair

of Radical Black and Third World Books (1982-1995). Introduced as a unique "meeting of the continents”, the book fair brought together people from across the globe concerned with the Caribbean, African and black diaspora to participate in debates, readings, films, forums in an exploration of links, visions and dreams.

In the period of decolonisation and migration to Britain in which it was founded, New Beacon understood the importance of the role of the writer and the publishing industry in mediating a collective sense of the past. As a publishing house and booksellers, it developed into a fully integrated part of a small but powerful diasporic

ecosystem with links ranging from the Notting Hill Carnival to the Oilfield Workers Trade Union in Trinidad. By choosing the path of slow organic growth over the temptation of institutional funding

through which many bookshops eventually collapsed, New Beacon worked successfully to establish a form of autonomy within the British

literary market. Re-appropriating the means through which identity, history and culture were produced, it handed information and the

regulatory power of narrative back to Black communities. In doing

so, New Beacon crafted innovative relationships between activism and print and bookshops as a site of education and spatial assemblage.

New Beacon Books,

76 Stroud Green Road,

Finsbury Park, London, N4 3EN www.newbeaconbooks.co.uk

Photograph Sarah White, co-founder of New Beacon Books

CHRISTINE RÖSCH

Hand-drawn typography and playful characters are regular features in Christine Rösch’s charming illustrations.

CHRISTINE RÖSCH

Whether she’s making illustrated exploration guides or ‘Save the Whale’ posters, her colourful images bring any page to life. www.christineroesch.de

HANNAH HABIBI HOPKIN I am the proud owner of a NO MORE PAGE THREE T-shirt, which I

recently wore on television, giving the campaign its brief debut on the Islam Channel.

As I was about to go on air, with the slogan emblazoned across my chest in bold, I suddenly thought -

“I hope that this is not mistaken for priggishness...”

Opposition to Page 3 can easily be reduced to campaigning for

moralism, (unfortunately even unwittingly by those in support of the cause), and so supporters of Page 3 quickly dismiss NO MORE

PAGE THREE campaigners as straight-faced prudes and killjoys. In

my opinion the opposite of nudity is not to wear modest clothing, but rather,simply, not being nude. I am not outright offended by the sight of bare breasts, nudity doesn’t shock me, and in fact sometimes I even like it! But when it comes to nudity and in

particular female nudity with all its implications, it boils down to context. The catchphrase ‘News Not Boobs’ is not a call for political correctness, but rather a request that a newspaper’s column inches not be used for blatant titillation and sexism. 22

The Sun and supporters of Page 3 smear the NMP3 campaign as a

movement of pedantic, humourless feminists, and this isn’t the

first time the newspaper has responded to anti Page 3 campaigners with anti-feminist attacks.

In 2004 (before the current NMP3

campaign began) the Labour MP Claire Short called for an end to

Page 3, prompting The Sun to brand her “fat and jealous”. Despite

the nastiness associated with the strip, I can’t tell you how many times I have heard it said that Page 3 is just “a harmless bit of fun”, implying that those of us who are against it have no sense

of humour. Of course, it is highly possible that some signatories to the NMP3 petition would fit into the description of “pedantic, humourless feminists”, but where they are completely wrong is the suggestion that Page 3 is harmless fun.

The creator of the NMP3 campaign, Lucy Holmes, drew the unpalatable

correlation between Page 3 and sexual violence in an article for The Independent: “The Page 3 image is there for no other reason than the sexual gratification of men.

She’s a sex object. But when figures

range from 300,000 women being sexually assaulted and 60,000 raped

each year, to 1 in 4 who have been sexually assaulted, is it wise to be repeatedly perpetuating a notion that women are sexual objects?”

And when you find out that The Sun has a website and mobile app that allows you to view a Page 3 model in 360º, as if you were doing a bit of online shopping, the objectification of these women is inescapable.

The app carries the

instructions: “To see her from

every angle, left-click, hold and drag your cursor”.

Exposing the implications of this objectification proves that Page 3 is not likely to be “harmless” - but is it still fun?

In the

last few weeks The Sun decided to remove the only bit of Page 3

that I ever found laughable. ‘NEWS IN BRIEFS’ was a tiny text box that appeared alongside the model, and containing a news-related quotation supposedly from the naked woman herself. Frequently bizarre and implausibly worded, we’d have topless JODI, 23,

from Camberwell quoting Voltaire in relation to the UK economic situation, or near-naked LUCY, 21, from Middlesex lamenting

political turmoil in Egypt. Some might say this was tongue in cheek - bringing the news to the boobs – but The Sun was revelling in the absurdity of the juxtaposition of photo and comment, so NEWS IN

BRIEFS looked like plain old taking-the-piss out of women to me– cos we all know attractiveness and intelligence don’t mix, right?

www.hannahhabibi.com 24

So Page 3 isn’t really harmless,

fig leaves, but I do believe that

the Page 3 excuseniks aren’t

new leaf, one which breaks away

or very funny, but hey, at least trying to say it’s something more highbrow… oh wait! Take a look at the comments section after any anti Page 3 article and along

with the standard vitriol aimed at feminists, you’ll find some pretty lame arguments in Page 3’s defence; “appreciation of the female form”, “empowering women”, “freedom of speech”.

If any of those arguments were

true then why are all the Page 3

models of a certain size, age and ethnicity? over 25?

Where are the women

The women whose breasts

aren’t pneumatic?

If they really

are celebrating the female body it seems very strange that in

a world full of various female forms Page 3 only has the one form on offer.

As for women’s

empowerment, unfortunately

the current Page 3 set up has me believing that a woman’s

achievements are proportional to her bra size!

Perhaps

dedicating half a page to a woman in her work clothes- a doctor, an engineer, a pilot- might be slightly more appropriate.

And

I’m all for freedom of speech – so, Dear Page 3 supporters, how about a bit of gender equality, shall we have alternate days

of male and female Page 3 like

it is time The Sun turned over a from such blatant sexism, and is befitting of UK newspapers in the 21st Century.

And with the

abandonment of the topless Page 3 by the Irish Sun this August, I believe that more than ever the tide is with us.

If you go

to the NMP3 petition website www.nomorepagethree.org you

will find numerous significant arguments for why there should be no more Page 3, for example Sabrina Mahfouz’s poignant

poem No More Page 3, with the cutting lines “This society

sees women as bodies that are

commodities; But only at their peak of conceivability; After

which please go away and don’t

say anything; Not that you ever had anything to say anyway”.

With the surging support for the NMP3 campaign, and over 120,000 signatories to the petition, it is clear that we do have a lot to say… Whether we display our opposition by wearing a slogan T-shirt, or by petitioning our MPs to have The Sun sold from

the top shelf, now is the time

to fight against Page 3 and the caricaturing of women as either good-time-girls, or humourless feminists.

the tabloids in Austria?! No? I didn’t think so!

I am not a prude, I don’t want to hide nude women and men behind

www.nomorepagethree.org

STROLL ALANA QUESTELL

Alana Questell takes specific moments in time that are preserved in printed pictures and collages them together to create new meanings. In her work she likes to bring attention to people and things that tend to go unnoticed.

TRICARDIA WATSONII ALANA QUESTELL

Her most common source materials are old books and magazines, usually acquired secondhand. www.alanaquestell.com

DIY Couture is ingenious in its simplicity and effectiveness; rather than purchasing a garment, the DIY Couture customer purchases a

set of simple, visual instructions, which enables them to make the

garment themselves. Here, founder Rosie Martin talks us through the many joys of making fabric bend to your will. www.diy-couture.co.uk 28

+ What is it that attracts you to sewing? Being able to make your own clothes is empowering as it means you

have the freedom to choose not to shop. You don’t have to wear what

is on offer and can instead create your own ideas. Secondly, I enjoy the process of making a piece of clothing. It’s a great feeling to stand in a fabric shop and know that every piece of material is potential clothing. Fabric can activate ideas, and creating something tangible that was once just an image in your head is

very satisfying. Sewing is a lot of fun and is a practical form of

creativity. You always have to make something that fits the body, so there is no need to be intimidated by infinite ideas, as can happen with art. There are limitations, and they are pleasing to work within.

+ You created an instruction book and run workshops. Is it important to you to be passing on your skills?

It’s very important to me as I believe sewing isn’t difficult and

that anyone can do it. I originally made my DIY Couture instructions as I thought visual instructions would be the best way of helping

people to sew garments, but people learn differently – some people

prefer to be physically shown how to do something – so I started to run workshops too.

I have a pressing desire for people to discover the joys and

freedoms of sewing and I am convinced that this is possible for anyone and everyone! I don't have special skills - I am a self-

taught seamstress, so I know that it doesn’t take a degree to be able to make things.

+ Why should people bother when it is easier to purchase clothes? The freedom of being able to make clothes is life changing. I think of it in comparison to food. Having to rely on shop-bought clothes

is like having to live of ready-meals and restaurants. We cook food as we want to choose what we eat; we also enjoy buying different ingredients and experimenting with cooking. Being able to make

clothes is, similarly, empowering and gratifying. Additionally,

making clothes allows you to side-step shopping in unethical highstreet shops that aim for rock-bottom prices, the cost of which

falls on the invisible exploited pairs of hands that make our highstreet bargains. Some people say there is no point sewing something

when they can buy the equivalent for ÂŁ5 at Primark. However,

homemade clothing should be compared with higher-end clothing, or even tailored couture, as it is made to fit the body and is completely unique. In that way, it can be seen as a bargain!

+ Is the ethical aspect of sewing your own clothes an element that is important to you?

Yes. Being able to make clothes sets you free from having to buy

cheap clothing. I aim to make as much of my clothing as possible, or buy from charity shops. There are now quite a lot of ethical brands, as championed by Livia Firth, but many of these charge prices that are exclusive. I see sewing clothes as an alternative to this. I

also see sewing as somehow that draws attention to the people that do make the clothes we buy. This art/labour is mostly hidden from

view. We see a finished piece but most of us rarely think about the

person that made it. I see sewing in many ways as an act of physical empathy with the people who do construct the clothes we buy.

+ Who inspires you? When it comes to fashion, I love to look at the Prada collections as they are always bold, odd and funny. Miuccia Prada will often pick a theme (monkeys, roses, stripes) and push it to places you 30

and I could never imagine it going. In art I’m not really sure of names- I tend to like stuff that is colourful! This ranges from

stuff I see on Tumblr and in zines to pieces I see in art galleries. I’m a bit of a closet Jeff Koons fan as I find his shiny surfaces irresistible, and I also like the comment on capitalism that his shiny surfaces suggest.

+ What is your favorite shop to buy fabric and hab-dash things? I buy a lot of fabric at my local fabric shop, Mermaid Fabrics,

which is at the top of Mare Street in Hackney. It is a huge place

and has a fairly odd mish-mash of fabrics- I like that I can always be surprised by something unusual. I also love taking trips to

either Goldhawk Road in Shepherd’s Bush or to the market road in Walthamstow, both of which are blessed with a cluster of fine,

affordable fabric shops. Walthamstow does cheap and weird very well! I have picked up some great fabrics there, including navy blue

velvet fabric with gold horses heads all over it, which I turned into a pair of trousers.

ROSE NORDIN & IBN BATTUTA

“Traveling - it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller”

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Who live sees, but who travels sees moreâ&#x20AC;?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Travelling - it gives you home in a thousand strange places, then leaves you a stranger in your own land.â&#x20AC;?

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Never, if possible, cover any road a second time.â&#x20AC;?

FATEMA ZEHRA “When turning ideas into a reality, whether it’s starting your own business or leading a campaign, the road to success can be

difficult. Regardless of all the inevitable pitfalls and detours, it’s essential to keep the goal in sight and continuously remind yourself that the trials of succeeding will require hard work,

commitment, love and patience. One thing that most entrepreneurial start-ups have in common is initiative. This consists of the

knowledge that an idea will start and end where it began without the drive, passion, and clear and unrelenting direction needed to make it go the mile.

Driven by faith in the things they love, Selma Ahmed and Aisha

Maniar work hard to achieve goals in their respective fields. Meet two women who know that dreams don’t work unless you do”

Co-Founder of Empiyah Clothing Empiyah Clothing is a London-based independent street wear brand,

established in 2012. The brand is notably inspired by world cultures and specialises in tailored goods.

“I started Empiyah, an independent street wear brand, with my friend Emma Wallace just over a year ago. We found that there was a niche in the market for a brand that draws on not just what is relevant at the moment, but also historical and cultural influences from

around the world. We wanted to create pieces that we’d love to wear daily, so we put our heads down, started designing and it sort of

rolled on from there. I feel most inspired when I’m travelling and seeing what’s been/being created, whether that’s by getting on a

plane or journeying through people’s blogs. Seeing the hustle around me drives me, watching as people make magic happen for themselves. That, and the dream of building an empire and leaving behind a 36

legacy that inspires others to do what they love. The hardest thing I’ve faced in this journey has been managing my time, working full

time as a creative in advertising and running a business. That’s one piece of advice I would give to someone trying to create a brand,

never underestimate how much hard work it takes. We’ve been blessed that we’ve had such a great start, and I personally put that all

down to hard work but also prayers. Faith for me is what gives every success meaning, holds me together and gives me perspective so I’m

reminded that there is always a bigger picture. I’d also say another super important thing you and your brand need to have is integrity. You have to know, love and own what you’re creating, through and

through. Lastly, surround yourself with people who are as hungry and driven as you. I guess that brings me to my motto in life… Hustle ‘ard.“

Photos by Abbas Zahedi www.empiyahclothing.com

Founder of the London Guantanamo Campaign The London Guantanamo Campaign (LGC) was founded in 2006 and has

been campaigning since for the return of innocent British residents imprisoned without due process in Guantanamo Bay.

“On a professional basis, I work with words every day, but I have always preferred actions. I have been involved with humanitarian

organisations since my early teens but my passion has always been

for human rights and justice.I set up the London Guantanamo Campaign in 2006, working with the families of some of the remaining British

residents held in Guantanamo Bay, and a small core of activists grew out of that. At the time, there were a number of grassroots groups working on the issue elsewhere across the UK. We worked closely

with them, and continue to work with NGOs working on this issue and a large number of related grassroots organisations. Guantanamo Bay does not exist in a vacuum and we always make the links between it

and other global problems. As a grassroots organisation, we are all

volunteers and our work is almost entirely self-funded. Everyone has different skills that they can contribute to make a difference. Human rights do not have the acceptability of charity or

humanitarian work. It is a thankless task and has risks. People you know no longer wish to be associated with you and winning over the trust of vulnerable people, who have been let down too often, is

hard work and takes a lot of personal integrity. What the campaign lacks in material and human resources is made up for in enthusiasm and passion, and the impact of our very small campaign shows

globally. Guantanamo has never been a mainstream concern and for a

long time, there was little interest, with the world resigned to the broken promises of politicians, but we didn’t forget, give up or

move on with the latest trends. As with all other matters, the fate of Guantanamo Bay and its prisoners ultimately lies in the hands

of God, but that’s not an excuse to be complacent and do nothing. I organise most of the LGC’s events, so if you’re interested in

getting involved, get in touch as I can think of jobs for everyone.

I’ve been involved in human rights for over a decade and have a keen dedication to justice. An important thing about the campaigning work I do is that it is not exclusive or focused on one set of individuals. Justice and human rights belong to everyone.” 40

Photos by Farah Elahi www.londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.co.uk

AURELLA YUSSUF For all the debates about feminism, few outside of art history

scholarship seem to acknowledge many of its more creative practices. Many feminist groups took irreverent approaches to spreading their message, and created pioneering advertising techniques in the

process. In the complex narrative surrounding women’s rights today, reference to ‘first-wave’ feminism and the Suffrage movement in the early twentieth century often seems archaic. What is often

overlooked, however, is the innovation of the hugely successful advertising campaign that was mounted by the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), better known as the Suffragettes.

Sylvia Pankhurst, the famous activist, was a designer responsible for the corporate image of the WSPU. Not only did she oversee the production of anti-government posters & propaganda, which

were strongly influenced by the Arts & Crafts aesthetic, but also

implemented a tri-colour system of purple, white, and green, which

was applied to not only advertising but clothing and even jewellery. The strong visual impact this created was a significant factor in

the WSPU becoming the fastest growing group in the women’s suffrage

movement. Although familiar to us as modern consumers, the marketing techniques Pankhurst employed were a highly unique strategy at the time.

More recently, the Guerrilla Girls, a New York based art collective aimed to highlight gender and racial inequality within the arts.

On discovering that protest action was not successful in spreading

their message, they began a series of poster campaigns. Visually the poster style could not be more different to that of the Suffragettes - stark, often monochrome, with catchy slogans revealing the harsh statistics on the lack of diversity in the New York art scene.

In an increasingly digitised way of life, posters still have power; bold and in your face, they can force us to confront what we would rather avoid. Instead of being cynical about advertising, we can

learn from these movements ways in which it can be used for good – and for success. 42

AURELLA YUSUF interviews the Guerilla Girls + What sparked the

initial poster campaign?

Twenty-eight years ago, we got the idea to put up a couple of posters on the streets of New York City about the state of women artists in the

New York Art world. It wasn’t a pretty picture. But we had a new idea about how to construct political art — to twist an issue around and

present it in a way that hadn’t been seen before. The Guerrilla Girls were born: an anonymous group of artists who wear gorilla masks in public and take the names of dead women artists as

pseudonyms. Who knew that our work would cause

all hell to break loose? Who knew it would cause

a crisis of conscience about diversity in the art world, something museums, collectors and critics had denied for a long time. Now, it’s a no

brainer...you can’t tell the story of a culture without all the voices in it. We also take on Hollywood, politics and pop culture.

What kind of response did you get from the art world, and also the general public?

Our strategy worked. Lots of people in the

art world were pissed at us, but some of them changed their bad behaviour when we showed

them how discriminatory they had been. Lots of other people in the art world were thrilled

that someone was standing up to the entrenched, corrupt system.

As for the general public, we are still pretty much under the radar, but our influence is

growing all the time. The best part; we get

thousands of emails every year from people all

over the world, age 8 to 80, telling us they use our work as a model for doing their own crazy kind of activism.

www.guerrillagirls.com

+ What are the differences between some of the challenges the group faced in the early days compared with today?

We used to be called a bunch of complaining bitches. Now they call us a bunch of creative, complaining bitches.

+ How has the art world changed since you began highlighting issues of racial and gender inequality?

It is very difficult to make it in any creative field, no matter who you are. That said, it is much harder for women and artists

of colour. Most art schools and university art departments have at least 60% female students, but most contemporary art museums have less than 20% women in their collections.

Then there is the art world and the art market, which are full of

poseurs, snobs, insider traders, and crooks. The art market is the playground of the 1%. And, it’s pretty much unregulated. In fact,

it has been described as the 4th largest black market in the world – after drugs, guns and diamonds.

+ How has your creative or political approach changed over the years?

Our targets haven’t changed, but we are able to take over big street posters and billboards now, which we do all over the world. Our

latest was in London, in April, and our next one will be in Bilbao, Spain, in October. We also participate in exhibitions in which we criticize museums right on their own walls. Additionally, we hold

performances and workshops where we help participants craft activist campaigns about issues they care about.

+ What advice would you give young artists and activists today, particularly women and people of colour?

To artists we say: we wish you success in the art world, but never forget that the system sucks and the art market and celebrity

culture make everyone but the superstars feel like failures. You must speak out against art world discrimination and corruption.

To activists we say: don’t worry that you can’t change everything. Just keep trying. We promise that over time your activism will really add up to something. 46

+ What does the word feminist mean to you? We think everyone should use the F word – Feminism. It’s outrageous that so many people who believe in the tenets of feminism — human

rights including education for women worldwide, reproductive rights, freedom from sexual abuse and exploitation — still stop short of

calling themselves feminists. Civil rights, women’s rights, lesbian, gay and trans rights are the great human rights movements of our time. Feminism has been demonized for so long in society and the

media that it doesn’t get the respect it deserves, but it’s changed the world, revolutionized human thought and given many women lives their great grandmothers could never have imagined. Even the most

repressive nations in the worlds have feminists, bravely speaking up or quietly working for women.

+ How can you prevent a cause such as this from being seen as a fad or from being commodified?

We can’t control how we are perceived. We just try to do one thing at a time. If it works, we do another. If it doesn’t we do another

anyway. We are a bunch of artists, and we’ve never been systematic, or wasted a lot of time talking about what we should do.

“I launched my web project, The Body Narratives, precisely because I could see Women of Colour like myself struggling to make sense of our bodies and their place.” HANA RIAZ

My nieces, five year-old Nepali twins, sit in the garden with me as we stretch our skin. It’s summer and so our brown is a little

browner than usual, doing what melanin does when the sun comes to

rejoice and feed it. One of them, however, is uncomfortable. To my surprise (rather, saddened discomfort) she begins to talk about

wanting white skin and blonde hair, and what she would do if she

had it. Her sister disagrees and looks at her own flesh and happily

responds, “no I like brown and I like my black hair”, tugging at it. 48

I was eager to know what led her sister to believe that her

beautiful brown skin was anything but enough, and I began to

question her. What shocked me was that it was not an example of the complexity of shadeism that holds sways in Asian communities, but more the matter-of-factness that framed her answers:

“But everybody on TV is white and all the nice people are blonde. Nobody wants to be brown.”

It was a “duh” moment; how could I have been so silly as to think

anything other than this? I attempted to reaffirm how wonderful it was to live in such glorious skin. But even so, it was a painful

reminder of my own experience of growing up raced and gendered in a world in which my body was unsure where it fitted in.

I find it particularly jarring that two girls as young as five have already begun to negotiate their bodies in this way, profoundly aware and conscious of their place in the world. What it means to exist in their bodies, what it is to be looked at and yet

to simultaneously be or feel invisible alludes to the bounded

relationship between representations, worthiness and desire to be loved in a raced and gendered reality. This becomes increasingly

complex when inhabiting a diasporic space of perennial ‘otherness’ in a white, Western landscape.

Women continue to be framed by how they look and for Women of Colour there are the further complexities of race, religion, sexuality and imperialism to contend. Hypersexualised (Hottentot Venus and black women), infantilised (East Asian women), entirely desexualised (Muslim women) – but always oppressed; in a white supremacist

capitalist imperialist patriarchy our bodies and the narratives

surrounding them have rarely belonged entirely to ourselves or been created on our own terms.

I launched my web project, The Body Narratives, precisely because I could see Women of Colour like myself struggling to make sense of our bodies and their place.

The web project carves out an online space where the body is

confronted by a myriad of experiences, themes and narratives, from eating disorders and body shame, to wellness, spirituality, and

self/collective care as part of political and personal process. In

capturing the complexity and nuance of our experiences across race,

ethnicity, religion, class, able-bodiedness, geographical locations and queer identities (trans inclusive) The Body Narratives aims to resist and reclaim, re-defining what the body and embodiment means

individually and collectively. Through the project I hope to support Women of Colour globally to be honest and share their stories, to own and deconstruct their experiences as part of a collective and public (but always personal) healing.

The Body Narratives works to create a safe space for Women of

Colour to not only explore what their bodies mean to them, the good and the bad, but also to go beyond understanding our bodies as a

medium of aesthetic value. It was the kind of work I sought after personally, but also what I felt to be pertinent in the face of

misrepresentation and marginalisation. What I did know was that it had to be for us, about us and by us in order to subvert the gaze

(how we see and how we are seen) into something new, resistive and fully encompassing of our agency. New projects have begun to stem from The Body Narratives beyond the online realm and I am hoping

to extend its accessibility through workshops and an exhibition in London early next year.

For many of us, like the twins, our bodies connote difficult,

painful narratives, and more often than not, we embody shame and stigma for the things we cannot change. Our bodies become daily

battlegrounds for the very human desire to love and be loved, to

feel we are worthy of belonging in whatever communities we exist in. In the face of dismantling the systems of domination that are daily lived in, owning our stories and being able to voice them becomes indicative of just how tragically radical it remains to undo the silence and find a community in which to do so.

At the heart of The Body Narratives is a journey towards seeing

ourselves as whole and full beings, our bodies as holding potential and possibility when we feel they are our own, a canvas of

expression. It is about unravelling the powerful relationship our

bodies can have to the earth and spirituality, of learning to love ourselves and make home in the only home we truly ever have. Image by Kameelah Janan Rasheed www.thebodynarratives.com

CATS OF THE WORLD SABBA KHAN

Turkey, Istanbul, 2013.

See Red Women’s Workshop was a screen-print workshop run as a

women’s collective between 1974 and the early 1990s. The workshop was based in South London and produced some of the most striking

posters and pamphlets to emerge from the ongoing feminist movement. Sofia Niazi interviews founding members Pru Stevenson and Susan Mackie from See Red Workshop 1973-2002.

+ What is See Red Women’s workshop and how did it come about? See Red Women’s Workshop was founded by three ex art students in

1973. We met through an ad placed in Red Rag - a radical feminist

magazine - asking for women interested in forming a group to explore and combat the negative images of women in advertising and the

media. See Red grew out of that meeting and a collective was formed producing silk screened posters for the women’s liberation movement as well as for community groups and others on request.

Working collectively was central to the ethos of See Red, as

was sharing skills and knowledge. Members belonged to women’s 52

consciousness raising groups and were active in various radical

and alternative organisations. In the early days the posters were

mainly produced about our own personal experiences as women, about the oppression of housework, childcare, and the negative images of women. We always thought of it as propaganda for the women’s movement.

It was 1973 - 1974, and as young women interested in politics and social issues we became very interested in the women’s liberation

movement as it came into being. We were there at the right time in

the right place, and we were part of it as well. We didn’t go in to create the ideas, we went in to promote the ideas of the women’s

movement, to try and make it clear that the personal is political. You couldn’t just go in and do feminist posters then come home and do something completely different – we lived and breathed it. We came to it because we’d done graphics and fine art and felt that we wanted to do something that we knew we could do well, but do

it with and for the women’s movement. It was a lot to do with the

images of women and the way that women were portrayed in the media - they were very sexist times. That was the norm then, girls did

this and boys did that, and things were just starting to be thought

about. Men were going out and doing all sorts of left wing political activities, which we could do to a certain extent, but women were very marginalised and felt displaced within that.

+ Looking at the posters it’s amazing how relevant some of the

messages still are today. Do you feel like anything has changed? Things are infinitely worse, there is perhaps more awareness around inequalities between men and women, and childcare and housework is

now more acceptable to some men. But all the polls show that working women still do the bulk of the housework and childcare, and do

the very low paid and insecure cleaning and caring work. Sexuality may be more openly discussed nowadays, but young gays and lesbians are still beaten up on the streets. And the current government

cuts have hit women and children the hardest: there is now an even greater divide between rich and poor. Look at the detail in the

picture frame in the Maggie Thatcher poster “My message to women of Britain: Tough!” - just add several million pounds to each figure, and it could easily be redone nowadays, with Maggie hiding behind

Cameron’s mask! Issues around lack of self esteem, and stereotypes of beauty and body shape, are now more invidious: it was rare then

for teenage girls to want breast implants, and young people are now being sexualized much younger. Rape in marriage is now no longer

legal, but violence against and exploitation of women, although less hidden, is still a major global issue.

+ At the time, who were the posters aimed at? All women! We started off addressing issues that affected all women (housework, childcare, reproductive rights etc) and, as different women joined the collective, different issues and themes were

addressed (black women, sexuality, self-defence, mental health etc) We also produced posters on commission for various local women campaigns and national organizations.

We produced catalogues – there was no world wide web, email or facebook! -

and the bulk of the posters were sold by mail order,

and displayed in bookshops, colleges, workplaces, homes, cafes,

women’s conferences etc. We sent out posters in cardboard tubes that we picked up from wholesale fabric manufacturers at the back of East St market, and sent them across the world, to China, Australia etc. + I love that the collective was run solely by women. Do you think it’s important to have female only groups and spaces?

Yes, absolutely! The collective on average consisted of 6 women at any one time, but in all at least 35 women passed through 54

the workshop. We felt we needed to meet and talk as women about issues that were important to us: many of us were in women-only

consciousness - raising groups at the time. We wanted to work in a women-only, non-hierarchical environment.

Until we got small grants in 1983, it’s worth saying that we took no income from the collective: many of us worked part time or had childcare commitments.

+ As a women’s collective/workshop how did you function, did you all work independently or together on posters?

We shared all the tasks involved in running a silk screen

collective: working collectively was central to our ethos, as

was sharing skills and knowledge. An idea for a poster would be discussed, a member would work on a design, bring it back for comment, someone else might make changes and so on until the

collective were satisfied with the end result; no one individual

took the credit. This was a concept many in the art world found hard to accept; “who holds the pencil? someone must hold the pencil”.

Quality was important and many hours would be spent on ensuring that only posters that were well printed and produced left the workshop. Many of our posters use humour as a way of making them more

accessible. It was important that they shouldn’t put women off and

that women could identify with them. “YBA wife?” is funny, yet it is asking what kind of life do you have as a stereotypical wife.

+ What was it about screen printing that attracted you? It was immediate and portable, a screen could easily be set up in a kitchen, or at a conference. We could draw straight on the screen

and print almost immediately. We wanted them to be good to look at, as well as having a strong message, and the screen printing gave us a strong and dynamic result.

+ What other groups or projects inspired you? Many print collectives were initially influenced by the simplicity and immediacy of the style of ‘May 68’ (Paris / the Atelier

Populaire). We also travelled to the States where we visited print workshops and absorbed amongst others the influences of Cuba and Latin America radical posters. We were part of an era of radical poster-making: eg Lenthal Road Womens printshop, The Poster Collective etct

It was vitally important for us that women with different

experiences from different backgrounds came in shared struggles they were interested in and their life experiences. We could then work

together and enable them to produce posters that they wanted. This was crucial because our initial white middle-class experience was limited.

+ What advice would you give to someone wanting to start a women’s activist art project?

You need to have a passion and believe in what you are doing: you

can’t be half hearted! A grounding in design and print, and various other skills such as book keeping, are essential, but skills can be learnt and shared. It is important that the finished product is of

a high quality. Be adventurous and make use of current new media and whatever other creative methods are available to you. + Where can we see the posters? We have recently set up a website where you can see most of our posters: it’s still a work in progress!

www.seeredwomensworkshop.wordpress.com

RECONNECTING MEMORIES NASREEN RAJA

Interwoven in Nasreen Raja’s textile collection are childhood memories of Pakistan and inspiration drawn from old family

photographs. Alongside acid dyes, mood-evoking colours and patterns are created on luxury silk fabrics using natural dyes including henna, turmeric, spices and tea leaves.

“The collection looks at revealing and concealing of the body and

the clothing that was worn by the females in my family including my

grandmother, mother and aunts. The fabric collection is showcased as hanging niqaabs, face covering/veils playing with the idea of what’s hidden to be revealed”

www.nasreenraja.tumblr.com

INTO THE NET SOFIA NIAZI

I remember at some point a friend of mine said ‘I spent the afternoon sur fing the web’ and I was like ‘what is that?’

Sofia Niazi illustrates people’s early memories of the internet.

INTO THE NET SOFIA NIAZI

There was a guy at my university who was one of the first bloggers and he got a looot of attention. He was like an internet star.

www.sofianiazi.co.uk

SARA SALEM Although my father is Muslim I never consider my upbringing to have been a “Muslim” one. We were never told to pray, fast, or read Qur’an, and when we did, it was more a social and cultural formality. It was only much later, when I was sixteen that I began to think of myself as belonging to a community of Muslims.

I began reading about Islam, talking to everyone about it.

Around

this time I moved to Cairo, which undoubtedly affected my sudden need to discover what Islam was and whether or not I believed in it. Mostly the questions I had stemmed from a very emotional and

non-rational need to connect with life at a deeper level. Was life just about going to university, getting married, having children,

writing articles? It seemed too mechanical, too boring, too devoid of essence. So, stereotypically, I became one of those people who looked for more by turning to religion.

I quickly embraced Islam, and it became an important part of my

life. There were issues, however, that always made me uncomfortable, and which resulted in me going through long phases of not praying or feeling connected to God. The issues usually revolved around gender - as a feminist, there were certain aspects about the Quran, and especially the Hadith, which troubled me.

Chief among these issues was the question of whom God was addressing in the Quran. It seemed to me that God’s audience was primarily men, although the gender-neutral term “believers” appeared regularly.

The Hadith presented an even more worrying challenge, as I tried to grapple with what seemed like contradictions between the Hadith and the message of the Quran. 66

I began to explore Islamic feminism, and the works of Asma Barlas, Kecia Ali, Leila Ahmed, Amina Wadud, Khaled abou Fadl, Farid

Esack, and Fatima Mernissi opened up an entirely new world to me.

These women (and sometimes men) were approaching the Islamic texts with the certainty that God did not privilege men over women.

This certainty came from somewhere much deeper than rationality or textual deduction; it came from belief and faith. Starting

from that point and then moving towards rationality made all the

difference. The work these women created was stunning in both its

content as well as its ultimate goal: to show that God is not what so many male interpreters have (unknowingly) made God out to be.

That interpretation is a subjective act that is dependent upon our positions in society and our own histories; that once the Qur’an was revealed, it became an interpretation in and of itself; that

power has played a central role in how we have come to understand Islam today; and that some interpretations have dominated, have

been amplified, and by extension other voices have been muted or silenced.

A feminist reading of the Quran changed the way I saw many things in life, not just religion. The first step towards change is imagining a different reality. This act of imagining is already subversive, because it shows you that what exists now is not natural and does not have to exist. Imagining a better world is already an act of resistance, as well as an act of critical thinking. That is what

these Islamic feminists did; they showed me (and many others) that a different Islam is possible.

The Quran speaks to me at a very deep level, and in a way that

no other text has been able to. Praying makes me feel connected

to myself, to others, and to God, and constantly reminds me to be

humble, grateful and hopeful. Being in Mecca and Madinah have been indescribable experiences that have made me feel things that no

amount of reading or writing has ever made me feel. Spirituality feeds us in more ways than we are used to; it is different from

the day-to-day achievements and minor victories we revel in, it’s

different from our overly-rational and overly-mechanised lives. It is much deeper than that.

So, this is a thank you to those who dared to re-interpret the

Quran. It’s not an easy thing to do—it is a sacred text revered by millions. These peopl were attacked and ostracized, and yet persevered to show that the Quran is for all. Thank - you.

UNTITLED 3 MEHWISH IQBAL

Mehwish Iqbal is a contemporary artist whose work is webbed out

of stories of people, exploring the issues that shape oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life.

Through her work she tries to find the balance between the reality of life and its delicacy, events that shape us into who we are or what may become of us.

UNTITLED 9 MEHWISH IQBAL

Through her art practice she is always looking to explore and

indulge in experimenting with different genres. Trained as an oil painter, Mehwish went on to acquire printmaking skills during her Masters programme. She has since evolved her own style,

experimenting with experimenting with multiple techniques through layering to create rich and intricate works of art. www.mehwishiqbal.com

MERYEM MEG

Angela Davis January 26 1944 Political Activist, Black Panther, Scholar ‘Also known as ‘The Woman’ Angela was and is an exceptional

character. Her time, her youth, energy and commitment to her cause was something to take example from and to take into our daily

struggles as an example of what hard works and determination can achieve.’

www.cargocollective.com/meryemmeg 70

Miriam Makeba (Mama Africa) 4 March 1932- 10 November 2008 Singer, South African Civil Rights Activist â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Miriam Makeba was mainly known for her musical career and her

popularisation of African music to the global market in the early 60s. Although her musical talent was what made her known, she had many political and social engagements that proved what could be

achieved when the right kind of popularity is used. She used her authority to communicate messages of peace. One of her biggest

struggles was her 10 year exile from South Africa, the place where her whole family lived.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

THE FX BEAUTIES CLUB ARCHITECTURAL MODEL CHRISTINE BJERKE

Architecture graduate Christine Bjerke explores the historical and

contemporary link between women and money, power and mirrors through her project about The FX Beauties Club. The study is based on a

curiosity of the current phenomenon of the FX Beauties in Tokyo, established in 2007 as a virtual club of 36 Japanese housewives.

From their personal domestic settings the women gamble money through the intertwined and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;floating worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of the FOREX web, outplaying

the historical idea of the money market as being controlled purely by the male.

www.christinebjerke.tumblr.com. 72

STRIKE!

STRIKE! is a self published radical quarterly newspaper dealing in

politics, philosophy, art, subversion and sedition. Inspired by the radical publications of the 60s and 70s its makers believe that

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;physically publishing something is still the best form of quality control available.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; www.strikemag.org

Limner is a critical journal of illustration published by Studio Operative. Its aim is to provide a platform for the exploration,

critique and contextualisation of contemporary illustration. Sabba Khan interviews Studio Operative’s Peter Willis and Alice Lindsay. + What is Limner? + Peter: Limner is our journal. It is an to attempt to start/

continue a critical discourse about illustration - what it is, what it can be, what it isn’t saying, as well as concrete things like changes within the industry and how illustration is taught.

+ What defines Limner as a journal and not a zine? Or is it both? + Alice: I think technically, Limner would be defined as a

professional magazine as it is about a particular industry and isn’t peer reviewed in an academic sense but I think it maybe has elements of both zine and journal. We wanted to position Limner as bridging

a gap between informal discussion and academic ideas. It began as a photocopied zine, Pete’s been running a zine distro for years, so its a format we value a lot; but I would define Limner more as a

journal now, in part because of production as it’s becoming a bigger publication and partly because of intention. How did it start? + Peter: I discovered this word Limner, described as an

‘illuminator’ (of manuscripts). I thought it was a really great, open description for the eclectic forms illustration can take.

while later I still really wanted to do it but instead decided to

work with what I knew, which is zines, so Limner 1 was a photocopied zine with a single, newly-produced image from ten illustrators. Shortly after that me and Alice Lindsay and Miriam Elgon got a studio together and started the press (Studio Operative). We

realised that Limner and Studio Operative had very similar aims so decided to merge. 74

+ Why did you decide to print instead of publishing online? + Alice: We felt print was important in presenting the object value of illustration. For the time being it makes more sense to us for

the journal to be something you can hold and take time over rather

than only being something you’d save to a bookmark on your computer. While there are many interesting things happening to and within the

illustration industry online, I still value the position of print in the discussion of ideas although Limner changes format with every issue so maybe a future one will be published online!

+ How do you feel about art education in the UK today? + Peter: I think it’s a lot harder to make the decision to go now with the increase in fees, cutting of the arts and humanities

funding, and the selling off of the student loan book to private

companies and (illegally) retro-actively changing the terms of the contracts. As for the value of the courses, it’s hard to see a

change in a short period of time in terms of work produced. I expect that an increase in non-EU students coupled with the abolition of the Post-Study work visa last year will unfortunately, probably, result in colleges taking non-EU students insanely increased fees and not feeling the obligation to

teach them the same way

they would EU students, in terms of preparing them for life as a

freelancer in the UK, knowing that after the 3-year degree they’ll just go home again. This can’t go on forever, and I think soon

enough arts education will become, more-so than it is already, the reserve of the well-off and wealthy.

+ Name one person whose illustration work makes you drool. + Peter: Oh man there’s so many - I just saw the Jockum Nordstrom

show at Camden Arts Centre which is incredible. Stine Belden Roed, Tom of Finland, David Hockney, Florence Shaw, Ben Shahn

+ Alice: There are so many, but I got the book ‘Robert Weaver:

A Pedestrian View: The Vogelman Diary’ not long ago and some of his drawings and paintings are incredible. He had interesting

ideas about the social consciousness and responsibility of the illustrator.

www.studio-operative.co.uk

(Limner image by Grace Helmer) 77

+ What is risograph printing and why did you choose to print your work the way you did?

Because I share a studio with Studio Operative there’s a risograph

machine right there and it would’ve been mad not to use it. A risograph machine is like a photocopier that creates screen prints (it makes all the same sounds as a photocopier and it looks like a photocopier). You can transfer a pdf or a jpg file to the risograph, or scan something

directly. The machine then ‘exposes’ a little paper screen, the paper

goes in, the ink is squashed through the master onto the paper and the paper shoots out with your picture on. You can only do one colour at a time but you can layer them up.

There are fancier machines than the one we have, where you can print loads of colours at the same time - but only people in exotic places

like Yale and Japan have those, it seems! Risography is great because

it’s relatively cheap. If you print something and it’s too faint or it doesn’t turn out how you expected, you can make adjustments much more quickly and inexpensively than you can with other printing processes. It is trial-and-error friendly.

+ In your opinion, what is illustration? For me Illustration is just an excuse to make work. + Are you working on any current illustration projects? In the bit of down time I have now I’m making moulds and casting

multiples of a trio of little busts that I’ve made from Fimo. They’re made up characters called Blessing, Clare and Neil.

+ Do you have a favourite illustrator/ why do you like their work? Mike Redmond’s drawings are classy whilst being kind of ugly which

I hope, if he reads this, he will take as a compliment because it’s intended to be, a BIG one. He draws women well. 78

www.florenceshaw.com

PREDATOR MAHWISH CHISHTY

The American led drone war savaging the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan hovers in the minds of many. Returning to her hometown

of Lahore in 2011, Mahwish Chishty was moved to merge new media and conceptual work with traditional practice, to re-render silhouettes

of unmanned Drones as vibrant cultural images inspired by Pakistanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s colourful truck art or Jingle truck tradition. We felt her project

beautifully captured the eeriness of the present as seen through the eyes of both past generations and haunted future generations. www.mahachishty.com 80

REPORTAGE ILLUSTRATION

American University of Beirut,

Al Madad is involved in a number of WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) projects within the

camps. They hire Syrian refugees

to run the operation, paying them a fair wage for their labour and

construction efforts, in order to break the cycle of dependency on PATRICK GALLAGHER

aid handouts.

About twenty children stood

Al Madad’s reasoning for this

in their own pursuits, others

people who have recently become

around us, some actively engaged trying out sentences of English they had picked up back home in Syria. One of our party picked

up a bottle cap and beckoned the youngsters forward. In a flash the cap had vanished and the

small gathering gasped, pointed and laughed at the magician

in their midst. Some juggling and more laughs would follow, the smiling children and the

refugees a degree of autonomy in what is a chaotic situation. I

spoke with Aya Haider to gain a clearer idea of what the goals of Al Madad were and to find

out more about the reality of

the situation on the ground. In

addition to working on emergency WASH projects, the charity’s focus remains on education.

welcoming ways of their parents a

‘As wonderful as it would be

of these people.

meet the ever changing needs and

telling example of the resilience

We were in Chtaura, a town

in Lebanon’s Beqaa valley, a

region along the Lebanon-Syria border where a vast number of

Syrians fleeing the conflict and dangers in their homeland had

set up camp. I had been invited there by Aya Haidar, Director of Al Madad, a London based

charity working directly with

Syrian refugees on a number of projects in Lebanon and Syria. Partnering with the Community

Project Development Unit at the 82

approach is that it returns to

to be able to shift focuses to

adapt to every situation, I think it’s important for a charity to maintain a tight focus’ says

Haidar, ‘It’s important to keep

the bigger picture in mind. This situation has been on-going for

the best part of three years and

should the conflict end tomorrow, it won’t be for at least another five years before Syrians can get back and start to rebuild their lives. That’s nearly a decade of disruption, during which most children wouldn’t

have picked up a book or even

entered the schooling system.

their way out of their current

whole generation of illiterate

autonomy to spend their wage on

Potentially, that equates to a Syrians who have never had the

opportunity to develop the skills that will be needed to lift the country out of the challenging years ahead of it.’

The benefits, Haidar explains, go far beyond simply imparting

literacy and arithmetic skills;

‘It’s about creating a system of learning whereby you introduce a

situation and grants them that

what they specifically need for their family, instead of NGOs

coming from above and giving them yet another blanket or mattress. Not only does this reinstall the essence of their dignity but it

also breaks this poisonous cycle of dependency far too many aid

organisations are all too happy to keep going.’

routine and discipline in which

What of the results so far, I

his/her full potential. In their

or learned while visiting the

each child invests in and reveals world full of chaos, uncertainty and violence, to have a safe,

stable and encouraging place to go to and learn is extremely important- psychologically,

emotionally and developmentally. It’s very important for these

children to be socialized within such an environment whereby the sheer sense of accomplishment

they feel breeds a new generation of fortified, confident and

capable individuals. As mentioned

asked Haidar; what had she seen camps? ‘You know, the Syrians’ strength, drive and resilience are empowering and humbling.

Despite the horrors they have witnessed, and the cards they

have been dealt, they adapt and are invested toward a better day. They don’t want pity or

hand outs. They just want the

opportunity to pull themselves

out of a temporary bad situation and return home safe.’

previously, how we get to our

When I had juggled in front of

family is different and their

was easy to forget exactly what

end goal is adaptive. Every

needs reflect that. Let’s not

forget that Syria was a middle

income country, full of educated professionals. We are working

with these qualified refugees to head our education programs on

the ground, for a wage. Not only

is this addressing the problem of (il)literacy but it also provides adult refugees a chance to work

that group of laughing kids, it they had been through. Haidar recounted a few of her own

experiences which sharpened my

focus; ‘On one of our education projects in the Beqaa Valley,

the class of six year olds were asked to draw what they wanted

to become one day. Some children drew themselves as footballers, others as doctors and some as

airline pilots. One little girl

so grateful, we hugged and parted

The teacher told her it was a

returned to Lebanon and one day,

drew a picture of a butterfly. beautifully drawn butterfly,

but asked why did she want to

become a butterfly? Sara simply looked at her and said, “I want

to become a butterfly, so that I

can fly far, far away, back to my home in Syria”.’

Her story about a family of refugees in Beirut was also

particularly poignant; ‘When

I was in Lebanon at the start of the year, around February,

I came across this family of a

mother and four young children,

sitting on the steps of a Beirut street. As I walked past, I saw

as I was walking around Beirut, I hear “Aya, Aya, Aya, Aya!”.

I look behind me and its one of

the little boys running down the street after me. After eight

months, God knows how many people he must have crossed, he not only remembered me but also my name. I followed him back to his mum and

siblings and we sat and caught up over shawarmas. They said that

they had never forgotten me, not

because of the food or shoes, but because I took that short time to acknowledge them and make them feel human again.’

her children were in a dire state

My brief few days with Al Madad

and no shoes on their feet. The

only seeing what a huge impact a

with torn clothes, really filthy mother explained she had just arrived in Lebanon within the

last 48 hours. I sat beside her and listened to her story. She was widowed and had come with nothing’.

‘She had found a spot under the Kola Bridge where she and her children could sleep. After playing with the kids for a

while, she never asked me for

anything and just thanked me for

taking the time to talk. I walked up the road and bought them some food and some shoes to protect

the children’s feet. It’s nothing that anybody else wouldn’t have done if they had seen the state

these children were in. They were 84

ways. About eight months later I

were genuinely enlightening, not small charity working directly with refugees could achieve, but also experiencing first-

hand the indomitable spirit of

the Syrians. Their openness to a complete foreigner, the playful children, and the doggedness of their characters in the face of such upheaval and turmoil has

been a true source of reflection for me. I can only end by saying that Al Madad cannot continue to carry out their much-needed work without the help of supporters www.almadadfoundation.org

Photography by Aya Haidar 85

ROSE NORDIN

The concept for OOMK was planted in the wild paper forest of a North London small press fair. From our experience, many exciting and

strange encounters are often sparked through the exchange of hand made and self published matter.

Significantly, before I really knew who my OOMK co-founders were

in person, I encountered large and important parts of them through their printed identities in their zines. Owning hand-crafted,

self-initiated printed work, can be like owning an artefact of

the makerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s character. Now, OOMK is for you to engage with others through print. To print is a personal, radical and powerful act.

Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s share the power. Here are some books and zines which feature print techniques and visuals.

1. Pulled : A Catalogue of Screen Printing by Michael Perry -

A bright, visual collection of screen printing work and some useful information on the process.

2. Self-Publishing and empowerment by Deborah M.Withers An in-depth zine guide to publishing projects. 3. Print Workshop by Christine Schmidt -

A broad and beautiful step-by-step print workshop collection. 4. The Print Handbook by the Media Collective -

An excellent, concise guide to getting documents print ready and what to expect from commercial print processes. 5. Girls Zine by BNN INC Publishing -

A stunning and odd (Japanese) collection of zine projects.

BEFORE THE END FRIENDS ROSE NORDIN

This image is from a developing collection of digital character

friends. They have been designed as pet-like companions for the last surviving humans, before the inevitable apocalypse. www.rose-nordin.com

SORAYA SYED

Nuqta; a drop, mark, point or dot from which all letters emanate. We spoke to contemporary and classical calligrapher Soraya Syed

about her journey through Islamic art and her work as co-founder of Nuqta, a pioneering collaborative mobile and web app, which invites people to post images of Arabic calligraphy and typography as they experience it anywhere, and on anything. + Where did it all begin? I started taking calligraphy lessons in Alexandria, Egypt, and then I realized the best place to study was Istanbul and undertook an apprenticeship there. 88

+ How important do you feel it is to push your practice into other disciplines?

My practice is a process of disciplined freedom, and I enjoy the constant tension between remaining true to my classical training

while exploring further possibilities. It helps that I do not fear failure, which means I can take risks. + Who are your creative female heroes? One of my female heroes is the calligrapher Ayten Tiryaki as she has managed to do the unimaginable and combine motherhood with teaching while maintaining her calligraphy at professional level.

+ Can you name some other prominent female calligraphers we should know?

Thankfully there are quite a few, from the top of my head: Nuria Garcia (Spain), Narjes Noureddine (UAE), Betül Kirkan (Turkey), Fatima Saeed Bakkali (UAE), few.

Deniz Öktem Bektaş (Turkey) to name a

+ How is faith relevant to your work? The art of Islamic penmanship is a bridge between the spiritual and material, the visual and the verbal. Faith is part of who I am and inevitably feeds through all my work. Also I work in the Arabic language, the language of the sacred text of the Quran. It is a language that never ceases to amaze and inspire me.

+ The Nuqta project is a big undertaking with such potential - how has it been received so far?

From the start, we have been surprised by the support we have had. We were endorsed by the Khatt Foundation in Amsterdam, then we

where honoured with the presence of the world renowned artist Nja

Mahdaoui, award-winning calligrapher, Wissam Shawkat, and director of The Khatt Foundation, Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFares.

It was fantastic collaborating with Edge of Arabia, and partnering up with the 2013 Shubbak Festival for our London launch. We have a long way to go and are looking for potential partnership so we can

continue to develop and expand the project, as well as keeping Nuqta

free and non-commercial. The project has been very well received since its successful unveiling. The map is already showing

user participation from all

over the world (www.nuqta.com). The idea is to Learn, Share and

Educate, and that is what’s happening; users are learning from the content, as well as educating each other through images and posts. + What do you think gives Nuqta the edge over, say a Flickr or tumblr group for Arabic calligraphy?

Nuqta is the first application of its kind; it has Knowledge Bank as a resource and a growing library of articles, videos and links by

experts in the field of Arabic calligraphy, typography and beyond. The combination of the map and gallery makes it distinct. As time

progresses, the difference and the uniqueness of Nuqta becomes more apparent.

+ Do you have a favourite image that has been uploaded by a stranger?

There are quite a few thankfully, a nice surprise was from a

Londoner visiting Istanbul, which is a traditional Thuluth script carved in relief on a gravestone in Istanbul. It says ‘He is the Everlasting’.

+ What advice can you give to those interested in pursuing Arabic calligraphy?

It depends on the person, where they come from and how far they are willing to go. I personally chose Istanbul because Turkey continues to be the main centre for learning the traditional art of Islamic calligraphy. The Ottomans were the last major Islamic empire and

were great patrons of Islamic art in general. Their legacy continues today through the master – apprenticeship system. All over the city there are classes taking place, some at universities and others at wakfs (a religious endowment and charitable trust) or renovated

medreses (educational institution). However, there are calligraphy schools in Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt, as well as university

courses in Damascus, Syria, and Amman, Jordan. There are notable

calligraphy schools in Tehran, Iran, and it is possible to study the Maghribi script in Morocco. 90

www.artofthepen.com

FUAD ALI & HELENA WEE Asia Elects, an ambitious 4-day programme featuring an exhibition, performance, film, photography and poster art, was held in October

2013 as part of the Art Licks Weekend Festival of independent arts. Centred on the presidential elections of the People’s Republic of

Duriana, a fictitious country somewhere between South and East Asia complete with presidential runners and their respective campaigns, attendees were encouraged to cast their vote and decide on a new leader.

The wonderful world of Duriana was born as a model of the many features and dynamics at play in the politics of Asia. Issues

of tourism, mineral extraction, massacre, worker exploitation,

voter fraud, military coups and draconian security stalk our times

wherever we might be, not least in the People’s Republic of Duriana. Through the theatre of presidential elections emerging from a

caretaker-military government we were able to create a space where the politics of these issues could unfold. Designed so that any

passer-by could engage in its interactive theatre, many participated in the fortunes of this dragon-shaped country.

Our candidates, the military industrial dictator, the techno-

optimist, and the grand-daughter of the nation, made the conceit believable.

Along with our propaganda artists, they brought

Duriana to the people, most of whom were pretty game. With its own national anthem, flag and wikidleaks, what more could a fledgling decolonising nation need?

The closing debate, ‘What is Decolonial Democracy’, brought this

first rendering of the exhibition to a close; all broke character

and explored the possibilities of the political present. Duriana had provided its denizens with a versatile framework to extend to other arenas, which we hope to do. www.otherasias.webnode.com

THE PROGRESSIVE PEOPLE OF DURIANA VOW TO DELIVER

DIGITAL EDUCATION

+ -

MOBILITY AMY LAMBERT

Amy Lambert loves drawing people and gets her inspiration from the world around her. With observant eyes and ears she finds humour in the situations she encounters in everyday life.

www.amylambert.co.uk 94

LINOCUT HAND ALEESHA NANDHRA

Aleesha Nandhra is an illustration student and zine maker with a

diverse, playful and skilled practice. Beautiful visual contrasts

are present in her bold lino-cut hand image holding an intricate and fragile character inside.

www.aleesha-nandhra.tumblr.com

RACHEL HOPKIN Iceland, a marginal and isolated island on the Northern tip of Europe, made itself noisily known when it literally exploded onto the world stage in 2010, following the eruption of the glacial volcano, EyjafjallajĂśkull. This plucky outcrop in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean was initially the bane of global travellers everywhere (think back to the seemingly endless reports of grounded flights and stranded passengers) but when the ash settled, wandering eyes remained fixed on the island. Just like the Hidden People of the native folklore, Iceland, previously on the periphery of this travellerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vision, had become the apple of it. The promise of lava-spewing volcanoes, vast groaning glaciers and emerald lights dancing in the night sky seized my imagination, so

much so that when I was finally booked and all set to go, I feared I might fall victim to Paris Syndrome. Luckily for me, Iceland did

not disappoint. It fulfilled all its promises of breathtaking vistas and awe-inspiring natural phenomena. However, I could never have

anticipated that it would be something man-made that would ultimately leave such a profound mark on me.

I like to think of myself as something of both a literature and

history buff (as a writer, I am a glutton for stories and both areas 96

have these in abundance) but when I arrived in Iceland, I just

wanted to strap on my hiking boots and Arctic weather gear and get out into nature â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the last thing I wanted to do was spend my first morning there in museums!

However, I was not travelling alone and

my headstrong companion (see my big sister) insisted it be done. Unlike myself, who could not see passed the images of geological

wonderment proffered by our guidebooks, she had actually read them

and was able to tell me a little about both The House of Culture and the Settlement Exhibition, and given that these both seemed likely to offer stimulation for a ceaselessly over active imagination, I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need much persuading.

I find that wherever I go, I usually have an (at least basic)

pre-existing knowledge and (at least basic) understanding of a

placeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history and subsequent culture. This could not be said of my relationship with Iceland. I knew very little about how this

relatively young island came to be colonised, indeed I was shocked to discover it only truly began to be settled as late as 874 AD. I

knew even less about the enduring culture fostered by the (at times unforgiving) land and the people who endeavoured to live off it. There is a sense of the uncanny when wandering around Reykjavik, that it is all at once familiar and yet quite wholly original.

There is a feeling that perhaps the architecture is often borrowed from rural Scandinavia yet it is overwhelmingly apparent that the Icelanders have a style all of there own, with no two town houses

the same. But this initial impression actually has much deeper roots than one might expect and goes far beyond the superficial.

It might be unsurprising to most that many of the original settlers came from Scandinavia, specifically Norway. What is lesser known however, is that these adventurous Vikings, often married and

sometimes abducted British women along the voyage; a fact that

accounts for the Nordic and Celtic genetic mix shared by modern

day Icelanders. As a nation of emigrants, the original settlers,

who were mostly pagan, perpetuated the cultural practices of their homelands, which included the telling of the Sagas. Initially, the sagas were allegorical tales of the old Norse gods (Germanic Eddic

poetry) and florid recitals of the accomplishments of Kings (Nordic Skaldic poetry - a favourite of Scandinavian royal courts), which the Germanic and Nordic people took with them wherever they went. However, what set Iceland apart was that they turned this oral tradition into a written one.

In the year 1000 AD, after various unsuccessful attempts to convert the island and its inhabitants to Christianity, it was finally and arbitrarily decided at the parliament at Þingvellir that Iceland

would “take Christianity”. It is an established practice that when a theological shift takes place, the incumbent belief system harnesses the familiar tropes of the “old religion” to ease the transition, much like a cuckoo placing its egg in another bird’s nest.

Christianity in Iceland was no different, where the old sagas had

previously been about Pagan Gods and Kings, Christian scholars began to write hagiographic and histiographic sagas, which focused on

Martyrs and Bishops respectively. In his book, Icelandic Literature of the Vikings, Armann Jakobsson, professor in medieval Icelandic

literature at the University of Iceland, cites Christianity as the driving force from which the enduring Icelandic “Book Culture”

emanated. However, it was not long before the Icelanders turned the lamp upon themselves.

The sagas of the Icelanders are unique in that they were

simultaneously the subject of both the oral tradition and written

record. Written around 1220 AD, these sagas feature protagonists and events (usually the settlement of Iceland and its later conversion to Christianity) dating from the time of the settlement until

1030 AD. They were unlike the sagas which had come before, using

an entirely new style, identified by a narrative objectivity with emphasis on chronology, genealogy, direct quotation and detailed

character descriptions. This coupled with the use of short sentences and simple vocabulary, made them quite unlike the flowery sagas that preceded them and lead to the Icelandic sagas being received as

historical fact for centuries, though they are now widely accepted as a secondary source.

It is unsurprising that the early Icelanders wished to preserve

as accurate a legacy as they could. When charged with cultivating a young culture in a hostile land, sprung from an old culture in a distant land, one’s identity will almost unquestionably be a

divided one. Iceland’s volcanic geology cast it as both creator and destroyer for the Icelanders. With life on the island ever on a

knife-edge, the need for an enduring record of one’s existence was strong; like planting a standard on the Moon, Iceland’s literary heritage was proof that “we were here”. Even Icelandic Folklore,

which largely remained only an oral tradition until the 19th century when European folktales became a popular publishing phenomenon,

read like historical accounts, taking great efforts to fully name 98

protagonists and locations. In fact, they remain so faithful to

the original reports that they are often surprisingly undramatic! However it is easy to see, in this magical land of fire and ice,

where the windswept geothermal and volcanic landscape is equally as

bountiful as it is harsh, why the lines between fact and fiction are easily blurred. The land itself is a central character or at least

the principal catalyst for the Icelanders’ tales. As May & Hallberg Hallmundson point out in their collection of Icelandic Folk and

Fairy Tales, “In the long subarctic winter nights…it was not hard

to imagine that there were ghosts in every corner [...] As a matter of fact, Thomas Alva Edison is probably the greatest “ghost-buster” of all time, for with electrification, the once thriving ghost population has definitely become an endangered species”.

While the Icelanders may no longer accept their folk-tales or ghost stories as soft fact, storytelling endures and is central to the

Icelandic culture to this day. There is a common Icelandic saying that every Icelander has a book in their stomach. Indeed at least

1 in 10 Icelanders is a published author. And even those that don’t write, read.

Iceland has 100% literacy, with free university

education. A nation of voracious readers, the run up to Christmas is known as the Jólabókaflóð (Book Flood) on account of the flurry of

publishing ahead of the holiday; books are the staple Christmas gift on the island.

Yet, the Icelandic preoccupation with words goes beyond the

printed page; the language itself grows each year, for rather than appropriating foreign words for new inventions, the Icelanders create new ones with Icelandic roots. One such example being

“computer” which the Icelanders call a “tölva” derived from the Icelandic words “tala” meaning “number”, and “völva” meaning

“prophetess”. And this reveals one of the most striking things about Icelanders: their pride in their nation. Their pride is a gentle

one, which seems to welcome and nourish travellers, just like the legendary hospitality featured in their lore.

www.rakishiwrites.tumblr.com

TANAZART HOURIA NIATI

Houria Niati is a multidisciplinary artist whose work centres around themes of tradition, ancestry, and culture. Her â&#x20AC;&#x153;What if?â&#x20AC;? project

depicts portraits she took of a young French/Algerian woman, Nabila, a daughter of a first generation Algerian immigrant to France who was born in Paris. 100

TAGWIZUKT HOURIA NIATI

Merging these pictures with old photographs of Algerian women in

their traditional costume enables her to bring the past and present into a semblance coherent whole. www.hourianiati.com

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HADEEL-ELTAYEB I’d like to believe that my teenage years spent making band t-shirts were about being edgy and DIY, but really it started through me trying to fit in rather than stick out.

For three years of secondary school I was transplanted from a boring mill-town in the North of England to Saudi Arabia, where my dad was working. My existence in that space was characterized by a state of

un-belonging in almost every social, cultural and political strata I

occupied. The years from thirteen to sixteen, were mostly a confusing dance in trying to define myself through other people.

The most important of these people were five boys: Julian Casablancas,

Fabrizio Moretti, Nick Valensi, Albert Hammond Jnr and Nikolai Fraiture (listed in order of importance). The first Strokes t-shirt I made was pieced together from the starry/ethereal group photo on the ‘Room On Fire’ CD book-jacket. I dutifully organised it at the printers, with grainy A4 cut outs of the band’s legend across the front of a cheap white t-shirt. The result was actually quite tactical - we aimed to

draw out other like-minded heads by wearing band t-shirts under halfopen abayas

Though we thought we were really novel and ground-breaking, it was

just your typical teenage suburban ennui in a different setting. For teenagers in an expat bubble, without much real choice or influence

in where we were or what we were doing, in the years before anything you do in school seems to count, it was a much needed creative

outlet. In the same way that we would go home from school and take out our daily aggressions in diaries or journals, the practice of

designing and making those shirts was a form of taking ownership over our experiences. By trying to stick out in spaces we were usually

overlooked, we were marking our visibility in a positive way, more

innocent than the ways we’d discover later. For a long time those

shirts were a uniform and accompanied every exhilarating/mortifying experience we had.

103

But it wasn’t always fun, when we didn’t have control. The same way had used them as tools for inclusion/exclusion for

judging our peers, I felt this as the victim rather the aggressor when I had moved back to England. With the mainstream appeal of

band t-shirts going commercial, familiar names were being sold all over the high-street and nobody was safe. I got sick of having my

knowledge of Radiohead or The Smiths questioned by overzealous vinyl heads at gigs pretty quickly.

What had been a happy off-shoot of finding fellowship and belonging as an outsider, again became associated with just plain being an outsider, having to explain yourself if you don’t look the part

(if we all buy into the stereotype of what Smiths fans should look like).

Also we didn’t stay 13 forever. Making things with our hands was still pretty quaint for 2003, but some friends moved onto more

hardline past-times, as we all grew older and more desperate to

validate our existence and our bodies in ways so that people could see.

The Strokes shirt has acquired mythical status now, its last days saw me through an ill-advised romance in college, where by then, I was wearing it as something like a crop top. I used to look at it as a relic, and miss people who had left, or parts of myself

that felt dead. Now that it barely goes over my bra, the practise of de-constructing it and re-crafting it has been a reminder to stop affixing identity to people as well as things. Nothing is

set in stone- particularly not fabric. It stretches, seams can be

ripped open, pieces can be stitched together and you are left with something entirely new.

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Zine: BDS: What IT IS, WHY IT MATTERS LEILA ABDUL RAZZAQ

The BDS zine is a resource for educating the general public about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Campaign. Leila is an American Palestinian and an activist with Students for Justice in Palestine.She is currently working on a Graphic Novel about her fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life, which is due to be released in 2014. www.baddawicomic.wordpress.com

105

RABIAH ABDULLA

+ TIME OF THE MONTH TEA RECIPE This recipe is based on herbs that have all been traditionally used (and by me) for menstrual cramps, and I reckon as it worked for our ancestral mothers, it should do the job for us. You will need:

balm

3 tbs of grated ginger

3 tbs of dried German chamomile 1/2 cinnamon stick

1 tablespoon of dried lemon

1 tbs of dried calendula 2 cups of water 1 tbs honey

Method: 1. Add the ginger and crushed cinnamon stick to 2 cups of water and leave to boil. 2. Once water is boiling add chamomile, lemon balm and calendula. 3. Leave to simmer for about 5 minutes. 106

4. Take the pan off the heat and strain. 5. Leave the tea to sit for a few minutes and then add honey. 6. Drink at least three times a day and use the tea a few days before your monthly cramps begin to kick in.

+ COUGH SYRUP I first realised how well this syrup worked when I had a persistent cough and stuffy nose, most likely contracted from the long tube

journeys into university. I made the syrup and it helped clear up the chesty cough and cold symptoms, and also tasted like heaven.

You will need: 25g thyme leaf

10g marshmallow root

2 sticks cinnamon

25g aniseed

1kg dark brown organic sugar or

25g licorice root

15g echinacea root

1 litre of water honey

Method: 1. Place the licorice, echinacea and marshmallow roots in a pan along with the aniseed and cinnamon sticks and cover with water. 2. Bring to boil and turn the heat down. Leave to simmer for 10-15mins. 3. Add thyme and leave to infuse for 10 minutes. 4. Strain off the herbs and measure the remaining amount of liquid. 5. Return the liquid to the pan and add the same amount of sugar as there is liquid e.g. 750ml liquid, add 750g of sugar. 6. Continuously stir in the sugar on a low heat. 7. Take off the heat and keep stirring as the syrup becomes thicker. 8. Store in a glass jar.

Illustrated by ASAKO TAKI

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A clear concept is vital. This is a fun initial stage where you are forming a cause to get behind - so ensure you are excited and believe in the idea whole-heartedly.

Produce a simple manifesto to help solidify and deliver your

idea. This can help find like-minded people to share and support your vision.

Full â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;how to make a magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; zine avaliable from oomk.net

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SUBMISSIONS ISSUE 3

DEADLINE: 1ST FEBRUARY 2014

The theme for issue 3 is DRAWING, any written or visual submissions related to drawing are welcome. Here are some ideas: reporting,

sketching, inventing, experimenting, tracing, planning, capturing, imagining, remembering, laughing.

More general submissions relating to women, spirituality, creative

practices and play are also very welcome, OOMK loves surprises so if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got something special send it our way! Submissions to oomkzine@gmail.com 112

DESIGN + ILLUSTRATION SERVICES

Studio One of My Kind is opening for business. We offer design and illustration services: + editorial design and layout + editorial illustration + branding (web + print) + poster design

+ cute sticker design www.oomk.net/studio

Enquiries to Sofia & Rose at studiooomk@gmail.com

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“More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness.” — Charlie Chaplin

ISSN 2051-9907