Social Notworking in TANK Magazine

Some of my Social Notworking drawings are in the current issue of TANK magazine (volume 7 issue 6). I think its on sale for a few more days and then the next issue will be out. 

The online version is here tankmagazine.com/issue-57/flash-fiction/social-not-working. 

I've seen the print one in Foyles, Tate Modern bookshop and this one newsagent on Berwick street. If you can't see it then you might be able to smell it, its scented (unlike the online version which will just smell like your screen).

Shape and Situate #4: Gareth Pierce

This here is my contribution to Shape and Situate #4: Posters of Inspirational European Women. I'm a real big fan of the project so was really flattered when i was invited to contribute. Initially I thought I would make a poster of an inspirational Muslim woman, of which there are many, but in the end I decided to do a poster of a woman called Gareth Pierce. 

Gareth is a British solicitor who has worked on many cases which involve miscarriages of justice. Recently she represented two men from my local community, Talha Ahsan and Babar Ahmad, who were recently extradited to the US after being held without charge in the UK for a total of 14 years. You can click on the image above to find out more about her.

About the project: 'Shape & Situate is a zine of posters made by artists and DIY creative folk from within Europe, each poster highlighting the (often hidden) history and lives of radical inspirational women and collectives from Europe, as a way of connecting us with the past and the present through a dynamic cultural articulation of these women’s lives. 

Born as a result of an appreciation of radical poster projects from the USA, such as Celebrate People’s History and Inspired Agitators,  the zine provides a European perspective of women who have acted in inspirational ways, providing knowledge on - and recognising and celebrating - these women’s lives and actions. Women who have acted as organisers, activists, pioneers, educators, or role models, from a wide range of disciplines.

It is important to consider and question just who traditional/hegemonic history ‘remembers’, whom it suppresses, and why this may be. And important too to counter such narrow practice with culturally resistive, artistic and creative, grassroots memorial projects of our own, such as this one.' 

Melanie Maddison (the brains behind the project) 

Leeds Zine Fair Exhibition, picture by Melanie Maddison 

London Exhibition Details: 

Opening alongside Music & Liberation at 

Space Station Sixty-Five

373 Kennington Road
London
SE11 4PS

Exhibition runs: 8 Dec - 13 Jan 

Open Thursday - Sunday 12-6 pm

14 - 27 Jan, weekdays by appointment.

Gallery closed between 17 Dec - 9 January

C.A.M.E and Went

 

Here are some pictures from this weekends C.A.M.E at St Michael's Church. I've walked past this church so many times, it was cool to finally see what it looks like inside. Above is a picture of the poster roast exhibition, some really amazing screen printed images.

Footprint printers were down doing their zine-in-a-day which we managed to contribute some scribbles towards. You probably can't tell from the picture but that photocopier not only prints in the standard black but is also churning out pages in hot pink, i think its got something to do with the word 'risograph', i might have made that up, its appearing with one of those red jaggedy lines under it which so often appear when i try to spell words, thanks blogger spell check.

And lastly here's a picture of a lovely girl holding a cupcake and someone else having a nap while clutching some papers.

Many thanks to Alternative Press for inviting us to be a part of the first C.A.M.E, we had a wicked day.

http://posterroast.com/site/
http://www.footprinters.co.uk/

Crawlternative Media Expo

We'll be rocking our zines with Alternative Press at the Camden Crawl this bank holiday weekend! 

Hot off the heels of last weekend’s Record Store Day, Camden Crawl is pleased to reveal the addition of the debut Crawlternative Media Expo (C.A.M.E.)

C.A.M.E.Three influential collectives, Alternative Press, Poster Roast and Lexington Record Fair, have been brought together for the first time to create a one of a kind free exhibition showcasing the alternative arts of underground press & zine making, gig poster design and screen printing and record collecting under one rather large roof within the magnificent setting of Camden’s historic St. Michaels Church. Each of these esteemed curators have brought together some of the UK’s best talents and collectors to not only to display, but offer tuition workshops and informational talks about their art. C.A.M.E. will take place from Saturday 5th – Monday 7th May from 1:00 – 8:00 pm each day at and is FREE ENTRY to the public.

C.A.M.E will additionally host special live music and spoken word performances

www.thecamdencrawl.com

The Human Beings

This here is a picture of my new book called The Human Beings. It was my final project for a Image and Text  assignment at uni which i did as a way of getting out of a 5000 word essay. I'm still not sure how a piece of art can be equivalent to a 5000 word essay and despite being assured that the tutors 'have a way' I resolved that if a picture is worth a thousand words then 5 pictures should do the trick?  Anyway will have to see if this is in fact the case. 

The starting point of the book was the title 'What is to be Done?', after spending ages  trying to come up with something  I got frustrated and decided that actually there aren't that many things that need to be done and this obsession with constantly 'doing' something probably causes more problems than it solves. Thus the book, which is a short poem, explores the demise of the 'human beings' and the subsequent emergence of the 'human doings'. 

All the pages are scans of pieces of cotton which I stitched and stuck pieces of paper, fabric and other materials onto. 

The book is now finished, printed (A6 colour) and is available for viewing or purchasing for one pound from bookartbookshop, Housmans, ICA Bookshop, Orbital Comics, Gosh! and Extra bones. 

A last minute poster I made for Mwanzo Mwema's annual African Culture Show. I made another version for them because all the instruments are upside down, wrong way round maybe even inside out in this one. I think it looks like someone jammin though. 

Alchemy Festival

The Alchemy festival begins tomorrow bringing 11 days of South Asian goodness to the Southbank Centre. There's a pretty wicked line up of talks and arts events, too many to talk about in fact. I will however mention The Mica Gallery's Brit Pak exhibition in which one of my collages are being displayed, here's slightly more information. So if you find your self around those ends and you can't afford to go to the obnoxiously priced Damien Hirst then head on over to the Southbank Centre for some free quality!  

 Alchemy Festival website here

Ceramics

Decorated Dung, Bird Housing and Diya

Future Fairs

The Construction Gallery in Tooting was the happy home of the best zine fair in the history of Tooting.  There were lots of familiar faces but also new people sharing their work and displaying their skills and  explaining their ideas which is always nice. I didn't really look around at everyone's work, which was a bit stupid, but i did watch the Salford Zine Library documentary which I very much enjoyed. I also tried to get some Tooting Aunties to come in, which sometimes worked and sometimes didn't, I'm sure they'll be having a word with my mum as to what I was doing hanging out with weirdos... Anyway, here are some things that I liked from the fair:

             

Sally Hancox's prints (above) were wicked. I really liked some of the posters in 'Shape and Situate: Posters of Inspirational European Women' that Melanie Maddison put together, it's cool that the posters were made by both men and women. And i also liked the drawings and use of color in Kripa Joshi's Miss Moti books. And lastly I liked the colors and patterns in Faster Forever (below).

If you didn't make it to the fair and wished you were there you can you can travel back in time through this short vid and pretend you were. 

The pictures right at the top were taken by one of the ladies from the Userp Gallery who are busy preparing for Harrow's first ever zine fair in April: usurpzines.tumblr.com for more info.

Tooting Zine Fair 2012

Yes it's true there is a zine fair in Tooting! Here's a poster i did for it and here's some more information so you can tell your friends and aunties and cousins and your second cousins and your other distant relatives.

The Construction Gallery will be hosting the first Tooting Zine Fair from 12pm-6pm on 25th February 2012.

CONFIRMED STALLS / ARTISTS / COLLECTIVE EXHIBITORS 2012:

Alternative Press, Girls Get Busy, Walrus Zines, Shebang, Other Asias, Tom Cass, TINAG/Myrdle Court Press, Emma Falconer, Decadence Comics, Nichol Keene, Vampire Sushi, Red Robin Press, Just Design Collective, Nanae Kawahara, Monster Emporium Press, Microcosmic Orbit, Eyeball Comics, Cressida Knapp, Partisan Zines, Siberian Zines, Elliott Baggott, Jasmine Fung, Whirlygig distro, Melanie Maddison, Vapid Kitten, Susan Mortimer, Partisan Siberia.

Website: www.tootingzines.tumblr.com

Construction Gallery and Cafe
74 – 80 Upper Tooting Road
London SW17 7PB
Nearest Station: Tooting Bec Underground 

Contact: tootingzines@gmail.com 

satanic people

Susie makes a sign to ward off satanic people...

Goldsmiths W.I. Zine

A stitched up collage illustration for the first Goldsmiths W.I zine. The zine is full of weird and interesting things including a sushi recipe with banana and how to save the bees. www.goldsmithswi.blogspot.com

Smiths Illustrations

Illustrations for Smiths Magazine, October/November issue.

A leaflet I designed for my friend and her sister's exciting new drumming school.

The Museum of Everything: Exhibition #4

I figured i ought to have more art supplies considering i'm always making things so i bought a  pack of superior quality pastels the other day from the Cass sale, I've never actually been into Cass when there isn't a sale and i'm not sure whether that's just down to good timing or whether they're like those shops that are permanently having a closing down sale but are still open two years later. Anyway I've decided that this urge to branch out and employ new materials is most likely due to the fact that I've been invigilating at The Museum of Everything. 

Exhibition #4 is the latest installation of visionary James Brett's project to unleash the talents of untrained or 'outsider' artists unto the world. Unlike the previous three exhibitions this newest one focusses particularly on the work of artists with developmental disabilities working in studios mainly across Europe and the US. While workshops and art therapy sessions are common in mental hospitals and care homes for physically disabled the art work produced from them are rarely taken seriously as art, and people who create them are rarely considered artists. The establishment of permanent studios for talented self taught artists with developmental disabilities has been a radical move towards nurturing the creativity of people whose talents would most likely otherwise lay dormant. 

The studios provide equipment and some support from technicians but other than that the work created in them is completely original and often developed over time. While the artists probably have little concern for the history of art or critical approaches blah blah, some of the artworks I've seen there have been the most interesting, funny, imaginative and bizarre I've have seen in a long time, and maybe i'm saying that because i don't know much about art theory either but if this is the kind of work that is produced from an artistic naivety then that might not be such a bad thing!

  

Taking photos of the exhibition was punishable by £1000 fine...the perfect opportunity to try out my new pastels and do these drawings of two of the artworks. You can see the originals plus lots lots more over at The Museum of Everything which is on till late October. http://www.museumofeverything.com/

Finding Colour Exhibtion

Some of my batik paintings are hanging in Sprout Gallery until Saturday 3 September along with this crazy origami board Sabba made. The gallery is a bit hidden and you may even have to go through the woods to get there. It’s in a residential area so for anyone intending to go, take a map. Sprout Arts, 74 Moyser Road, SW16 6SQ. www.sproutarts.com. Open 10.30-4 

Social Notworking Consultations

Ellen Linder kindly offered Walrus a cell at The Old Police Station as part of her New Cross Turn Left garden party on Sunday. We took the opportunity to host our first round of Social Network Syndrome consultations, offering members of the public free appointments in which they would be tested and potentially diagnosed with SNS.

We decided that the old cell would be the ideal place to host the consultations as it would emphasize the prison of the mind that some network users are finding themselves trapped in.

Each consultation was about 10-15 minuets long and involved several practical and written tests and finished with a short information video detailing the pioneering work of Dr. Gustav Von Schneider. The day ran surprisingly smoothly with our receptionist Anmeet's appointment sheet fully booked, so much so that there are even plans for a mini tour, so watch out for an SNS consultation session near you!

Social Notworking Investigation

Women's Library Zine Fest

Pics from the Zine Fest at the Women's Library today where there was a zine fair, exhibitions and a panel discussion, heard a particularly interesting talk by Humaira Saeed the founder of Race Revolt.  

Alternative Press Fest 2011- Stall and Tings

Sadly the first International Alternative Press Festival came to an unofficial* close yesterday. The zine fair, which was over the bank holiday weekend, was amazing and the biggest since APF records began, which isn't actually that long ago. Here's a picture Simone took which seems to adequately capture the excitement of the two days. 

Despite the presence of so much cool work and many new zines, between doing workshops and telling people the life story of each zine on our stall, I didn't get much time to have a proper look around. I did however pick up a funny book by Sam Rees, who was a few stalls down, called Mouths. Its a simple concept but I think its really effective and well executed. 

I tried to show it to other people but they just looked at me like I had mental problems or something. My dentistry mate Sana also picked up a 'brush your teeth' badge which should make a subtle addition to her clinical uniform.  

And last but not least here's a little taste of my mad sewing skills. I made this headband in Rosie Martin's 'make a headband workshop' which I had no intention of attending but I'm glad I did because it was really cool and my sewing lady mum was really impressed with my headband. Thanks to all the APF organisers and helpers for all their hard work, hopefully next years festival will be even bigger and better!


*Officially there are still a few ongoing exhibitions happening at Orbital up until the 13th but the juicy bits are gone!