(HOUSTON, TX) July 14, 2021 – Houston Center for Contemporary Craft is pleased to present Copy Culture: Zines Made and Shared, a celebration of the history, practice, and community of self-described “zinesters.” Zines, which are small circulation booklets created and distributed by individuals or small groups, are set apart from mainstream publishing by a lack of formal barriers to participation. For decades, zines have brought together and created space for marginalized, underrepresented, and dissident voices to share knowledge and find community. Copy Culture features zines and ephemera from Texas and beyond, inviting visitors to learn more by doing it themselves.
Born in the age of “snail mail,” zines now enjoy wide popularity and distribution online. Nevertheless, many zinesters still cite zine festivals as the best outlet for community, commerce, and connection. The co-founders of San Anto Zine Fest, Natasha I. Hernandez and Isabel Ann Castro, also produced the long-running submission-based zine, St. Sucia, which captured the complicated, beautiful reality of what 21st-century Latinx identity looks like through the eyes of its community of devoted fans, known as sucias. They write, “We are a space for gente who identify as mujer, in any way they choose to.” Continue reading.
