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ONE OF MY KIND ISSUE TWO: PRINT

GUERRILLA GIRLS ­ SORAYA SYED ­ SARA SALEM ­ ROSIE MARTIN


!"#$%&'(')*&+$%&',%-+'.#+/# Designer & curator Rose Nordin

Assistant Editor Heiba Lamara Supported by Sabba Khan & Hudda Khaireh Issue two, Autumn 2013. Cover image by Alana Questell. ©OOMK 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


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ILLUSTRATION + 18. CHRISTINE ROSCH + 24. ALANA QUESTELL + 62. SOFIA NIAZI + 66. MEHWISH IQBAL + 68. MERYEM MEG + 78. MAHWISH CHISHTY + 92. AMY LAMBERT + 103. LEILA ABDUL RAZZAQ + 108. ROSE NORDIN PRINT + 07. DAKSHEETA PATTNI + 08. EMILY EVANS + 41. GUERILLA GIRLS + 50. SEE RED + 71. STRIKE + 68. LIMNER JOURNAL + 76. FLORENCE SHAW + 86. SORAYA SYED + 93. ALEESHA NANDHRA WRITTEN WORDS + 14. HEIBA LAMARA + 20. HANNAH HABIBI HOPKIN + 34. FATEMA ZEHRA + 40. AURELLA YUSSUF + 46. HANA RIAZ + 64. SARA SALEM + 94. RACHAEL HOPKIN + 101. HADEEL ELTAYEB PHOTOGRAPHY + 30. ROSE NORDIN + 36. ABBAS ZAHEDI + 39. FARAH ELAHI + 49. SABBA KHAN + 83. AYA HAIDAR + 98. HOURIA NIATI MORE + 26. ROSIE MARTIN + 58. NASREEN RAJA + 70. CHRISTINE BJERKE + 80. PATRICK GALLAGHER + 90. FUAD ALI + 104. RABIAH ABDULLA

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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.

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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 anti­colonial struggles in the Caribbean.

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The power of British imperialism

radical Black publishing houses

and colonialism in Africa and

in 1966, from their bedsit in

the Caribbean stemmed not only

Haringey. They contributed to

from physical force, but from

the momentum of radical Black

its ability to Name. Like the

activity and debate taking place

flora and fauna, the indigenous

internationally. They brought

people of these “new” lands were

back out­of­print works and

cut, catalogued, and classified.

rare works which illustrated

The data accumulated assisted in

the themes and concerns of New

consolidating Britain’s power and

Beacon. Their first publication,

its ability to manufacture and

a volume of La Rose’s poems,

regulate what was known about

Foundations, served as a

“Others” and through colonial

declaration of historical

educational practice, what they

consciousness.

were allowed to know about themselves. The printing press,

La Rose, Barbadian poet,

introduced in the 1400’s,

literary critic and historian

become the machine through

Kamau Braithwaite and Jamaica

which new narratives were

poet, novelist, academic and

recorded; publishers became the

broadcaster Andrew Salkey formed

channel through which they were

the pioneering Caribbean Artist

disseminated.

Movement. Using their Honda 50 as transport, La Rose and White

“The old publishing firms”, La

sold New Beacon publications

Rose wrote to a friend in 1969,

at CAM events, in addition to

“[…] grew up within the colonial

distributing friend’s writing,

preferential market, and not

or facilitating their requests

only gave us the word but told

for books. The Caribbean Artist

us how to use it”. Having grown

Movement grew into a major

up within a colonial society,

literary and cultural movement

he envisioned a tradition

and assisted in generating a

of publishing which gave “an

cultural resurgence among West

independent validation of

Indians living in Britain. As a

one’s own culture, history, and

result of the demand for books

politics”. Publication, he wrote,

CAM produced, New Beacon grew

“implies autonomy and initiative­

through an informal distribution

the validation of ourselves.

network into a booksellers and

That’s why I founded New Beacon

international book service.

Books”.

Sarah White describes how the book­laden bedsit, the site

John La Rose and his partner,

of New Beacon activity for

Sarah White, launched New

many years, gave way to larger

Beacon, one of Britain’s first

premises in 1969. While the

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HANNAH HABIBI HOPKIN I am the proud owner of a NO MORE PAGE THREE T­shirt, 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 straight­faced 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 anti­feminist 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, left­click, 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 news­related 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 near­naked 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 taking­the­piss out of women to me– cos we all know attractiveness and intelligence don’t mix, right?

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www.hannahhabibi.com

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So Page 3 isn’t really harmless,

fig leaves, but I do believe that

or very funny, but hey, at least

it is time The Sun turned over a

the Page 3 excuseniks aren’t

new leaf, one which breaks away

trying to say it’s something more

from such blatant sexism, and is

highbrow… oh wait! Take a look at

befitting of UK newspapers in

the comments section after any

the 21st Century. And with the

anti Page 3 article and along

abandonment of the topless Page

with the standard vitriol aimed

3 by the Irish Sun this August,

at feminists, you’ll find some

I believe that more than ever

pretty lame arguments in Page

the tide is with us. If you go

3’s defence; “appreciation of

to the NMP3 petition website

the female form”, “empowering

www.nomorepagethree.org you

women”, “freedom of speech”.

will find numerous significant

If any of those arguments were

arguments for why there should

true then why are all the Page 3

be no more Page 3, for example

models of a certain size, age and

Sabrina Mahfouz’s poignant

ethnicity? Where are the women

poem No More Page 3, with the

over 25? The women whose breasts

cutting lines “This society

aren’t pneumatic? If they really

sees women as bodies that are

are celebrating the female body

commodities; But only at their

it seems very strange that in

peak of conceivability; After

a world full of various female

which please go away and don’t

forms Page 3 only has the one

say anything; Not that you ever

form on offer. As for women’s

had anything to say anyway”.

empowerment, unfortunately

With the surging support for the

the current Page 3 set up has

NMP3 campaign, and over 120,000

me believing that a woman’s

signatories to the petition, it

achievements are proportional

is clear that we do have a lot

to her bra size! Perhaps

to say… Whether we display our

dedicating half a page to a woman

opposition by wearing a slogan

in her work clothes­ a doctor,

T­shirt, or by petitioning our

an engineer, a pilot­ might be

MPs to have The Sun sold from

slightly more appropriate. And

the top shelf, now is the time

I’m all for freedom of speech –

to fight against Page 3 and the

so, Dear Page 3 supporters, how

caricaturing of women as either

about a bit of gender equality,

good­time­girls, or humourless

shall we have alternate days

feminists.

of male and female Page 3 like 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

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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 self­funded. 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

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AURELLA YUSUF interviews the Guerrilla Girls + What sparked the initial poster campaign? Twenty­eight 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.

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www.guerrillagirls.com

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See Red Women’s Workshop was a screen­print 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 1973­2002.

+ 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

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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.

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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 non­rational 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 gender­neutral 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 day­to­day achievements and minor victories we revel in, it’s different from our overly­rational and overly­mechanised lives. It is much deeper than that. So, this is a thank you to those who dared to re­interpret 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.

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(Limner image by Grace Helmer) 77


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 re­render silhouettes of unmanned Drones as vibrant cultural images inspired by Pakistan’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

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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 you’ve got something special send it our way! Submissions to oomkzine@gmail.com

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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 2051­9907


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