A small life ZINE.

[Repost from a Patreon's announcement.]

How to navigate our life when we are small and stupid.

I created this little zine after second-hand listening to a friend of a friend's sharing about his struggles with navigating his 20s. I grabbed a piece of free scrap paper from the library and started doodling without a specific outline. The words and images that came out were completely organic and spontaneous, just like the paper material. There are some smears, it kinda sucks, and the paper quality is terrible. That's why the message is even more appropriate. Don't you think?

Didn't know where to post zines so I put it on Gumroad if you want to print it out for yourself, or click here to read. 🤤

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NERD RANT:

I liked making this so much. More so when the meaning behind zines are close to my spirit. Here's a stolen explanation from a random article:

A zine is a self-published, non-commercial print-work [...]. "Zinesters" are likely to be more motivated by self-expression and artistic passion than they are by profit: zines are usually inexpensive and sometimes distributed for free or in trade for other zines, goods, and services.

I'm glad that the concept of zines are known and circulating in the youth/art communities in Ho Chi Minh City. It's a useful and tasteful way for people to spread ideas freely. In fact, due to the expressive nature of zine, many were made for political and social reasons.

Historically, zines were widely used in U.S. political subcultures. They became increasingly popular in the 70-80s due to the rise of copy machines and punk. In the 90s, they actually played a key role in the Riot grrl punk feminist movements.

Am I dreaming of starting a feminist movement in Vietnam via zines? Such a dream is impossible to plan for because zines are free spirits. They have a life of their own and will only get circulated when they and the mass want such a marriage to work. Unlike commercial goods, indie products don't meddle with people's desires, or that's my purist hope.

xoxo