Edinburgh Zine Research with Tristan

Research

24 Jun

In this blog Gaada’s Zine Library Assistant, Tristan, shares his findings on a recent Zine-related field trip to Edinburgh!

Earlier during the month, I flew to Edinburgh to spend a week exploring the local art and zine scene, and networking with other artists. It was the first time I’d ever done something like this—what started as a personal break became closer to an informal research trip. It was brilliant.

Edinburgh College of Art Graduate Show

I originally visited the ECA Graduate Show to support my friends graduating from the Acoustics & Music Technology programme, but wandering around the wider exhibition, I found so much more. The exhibition included work by artists from a variety of disciplines: photography, architecture, illustration, painting. I was especially taken by the number of sketchbooks on display. There’s something so special about seeing the raw thought behind a piece.

The illustration room was where I found the most excitement, however, as they had dedicated the back of the room to a stall. I spent forever looking through zines, stickers, and prints before I decided upon which to add to the Island Zine Library.

Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive

I discovered Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive through their Queer Men for Queer Literature monthly book club. I was so excited to talk to other queer men about books. Stepping into an entire room full of shelves of queer literature of all genres—more than I had ever seen in my life before—was breathtaking. I had only planned to stay for an hour and a half, but I ended up spending the entire afternoon with the people who run the archive. We spoke not only about the monthly theme of queerness in the books of our childhood, but also about their archival process in general. I am absolutely dying to go back for future sessions.

Typewronger Books

My visit to Typewronger Books was my first venture out into Edinburgh alone. I was thrilled to see Sally Huband’s publication Salt-Water Island for sale on the table beside their public typewriter and a large section of zines. I spoke to Tee Hodges who owns and runs both Typewronger Books and its partner studio Typewronger Riso. They were incredibly enthusiastic about grassroots publishing and I spent much of my time browsing the shelves listening to them speak to someone about zine history and culture.

Edinburgh Zine Library

The Edinburgh Zine Library is not easy to find but I was determined to visit it. I knew I wanted to go before I even touched down in Edinburgh. It is a small zine library running out of EMBASSY, an artist-led gallery space. Jas, one of the zine library volunteers, was kind enough to open the library for me one evening where we had a chat next to the cabinet of zines.

Unlike the Island Zine Library, the Edinburgh Zine Library is entirely volunteer-run and vulnerable to losing work power. It is therefore important to show them as much support as you can if you are in or visiting Edinburgh.

It was wonderful to talk to Jas about how the library archives their zines and to compare the approach we have here to theirs. I am going to be keeping in contact with the Edinburgh Zine Library and see how we can support each other.