Very broadly (and awkwardly), the objects called zines are (usually) small, ephemeral, DIY (do-it-yourself ) print publications that are unstable and impermanent, both in their materiality and their content. Zines are publications that are most often photocopied, stapled or bound in a creative way, and are about any topic of interest to the maker.
– Jess Lymn, 2014

Zine making and distribution has long held a significant place in the practice of queer creative practice, protest and community building. Amongst its significant collection of paper-based ephemera, the Australian Queer Archives (AQuA) holds many zines that together, demonstrate the diverse ways in which these important publications can be made and distributed, as well as the histories they often hold.

In the second session of the NGV x AQuA: Pride Month series, hear from librarian, archivist and AQuA committee member Clare O’Hanlon and committee member Nick Henderson about the history of queer zine-making. Visitors are invited to then make their own zine with the guidance of artist Aaron Billings.

Speakers

Clare O’Hanlon (they/them) is a librarian in a university and a committee member of the Australian Queer Archives (AQuA). Clare is passionate about facilitating collaboration between independent community-based archives and mainstream GLAM sector workers and volunteers and making critical and diverse knowledges, theories, and histories accessible and encouraging collective reflective practice within and beyond the higher education sector. Their practice is guided by social justice principles, compassion, courage, and creativity. Clare has facilitated several workshops dedicated to the history of queer zine making as a means of recording queer histories and forming queer networks.

Nick Henderson is a curator, archivist and historian, who works professionally as a Curator at the National Film and Sound Archive and volunteers as a Committee Member with the Australian Queer Archives. Nick has worked at national and state cultural institutions for 25 years, and for the past 20 years has been highly active at the intersection of queer histories and the GLAM sector across Australia. Nick is also a former Board Member of Sticky Institute, and has been active as a zine reader, collector and donor since the late 1990s.

Facilitator

Aaron Billings is a multi-disciplinary artist working out of Pink Ember Studio in Coburg. His work encompasses comics, quilt making, drawing and painting. He is currently undertaking a PhD with RMIT University exploring queer graphic narratives and perversity. He is allergic to professionalism and seeks out opportunities to be silly, sacred and enraptured.

NGV x AQuA: Pride Month

This program is part of NGV x AQuA: Pride Month, a series of talks, discussions and workshops in Community Hall every Sunday in June presented by NGV in collaboration with the Australian Queer Archives (AQuA). Shining a light on subjects ranging from the role of community archives within society to the potential for art to function as an archive, these programs will invite community members and Melbourne Now artists to reflect on the importance of documenting, sharing and interpreting marginalised histories and experiences. More information on the series can be found here.