"Living history" right around the corner...

Last weekend, Guildess hosted a Zine Workshop at Foxglove Gallery in honor of International Women's Day. Participates were encouraged to create a portrait of a woman who has influenced their lives and write a short blurb about why. During the workshop, I was informed of a local project that caught my attention. QZAP, the Queer Zine Archive Project, is headquartered in Riverwest and aims to build an archive of all queer zines.

"The mission of the Queer Zine Archive Project (QZAP) is to establish a "living history" archive of past and present queer zines and to encourage current and emerging zine publishers to continue to create. In curating such a unique aspect of culture, we value a collectivist approach that respects the diversity of experiences that fall under the heading "queer."

The primary function of QZAP is to provide a free on-line searchable database of the collection with links allowing users to download electronic copies of zines. By providing access to the historical canon of queer zines we hope to make them more accessible to diverse communities and reach wider audiences."

While waiting for Guildess's zine to make its way to Foxglove Gallery this week, check out QZAP's website and see what they are all about!