Multi-colored risograph illustrations passed through hundreds of hands Saturday as artists and zine lovers perused the fourth annual Long Beach Zine Fest.
For literary lovers, the Expo Arts Center in Long Beach became a one-stop shop for zine-related collection, culture and exhibition.
“[The energy here] is supportive. It’s a great venue for artists to show their work and to swap,” Tabia Salimu, 54, contributing artist at Skid Row Zine said. “It’s not just about making money and the dollars, it’s a whole culture.”
Over 120 different venders showcased their work at the event, bringing stacks of “zines,” independently-published art booklets including illustration, comics, poetry and photography.
“Zines are essentially information from a very local perspective,” said Long Beach Zine Fest organizer Daniel Garcia said. “Zine fests are important for the community because it allows for the distribution of that local information.”
Mark Golez, 27, exhibitor and storyboard artist at Cartoon Network, started creating zines a year ago as a way of fostering a personal creative outlet. He and fellow exhibitors have been touring zine fests from Portland to San Francisco, with Long Beach as their last stop on the tour.
“I like to create very sweet, wholesome kinds of stories. Because of what’s happening in the world today, politics,” Golez said. “I like to have a story where people forget their troubles, at least for a brief second.”
Though his current zines are fictional comic-style adventures, he hopes to take the leap into autobiographical comics in future issues.
“[Long Beach] Zine Fest has a lot of stories about what that person went through, whether that be depression, anxiety or some social issues like racism, all these different interesting topics that people are very vulnerable to share with others through this medium,” Golez said. “That takes a lot of courage.”
Exhibitors at the event weren’t exclusively Long Beach locals. Skid Row Zine, an exhibitor at the event, offers current and former Skid Row inhabitants an opportunity for self-expression through independent publication.
“My zines are autobiographical. They’re about pieces of my life,” Salimu said. Her table was covered in small quarter-page zines and hand-drawn buttons.
Members of the Long Beach State graphic design bachelor of fine arts program became a part of this culture over the weekend. Their table was covered in prints, stickers, buttons and zines, all on sale to fundraise for their senior show.
“I really love the experience of it. Everyone’s talking, we’re sharing ideas,” Ken Rojanasupya, 24, graphic design major, said. “We’re interacting with [attendees], getting to know each other.”
Many of the zines on their table were created in their experimental type classes, some of which were repurposed and reworked for the event. Long Beach Zine Fest was their first opportunity to sell their work in a formal environment.
“We’re on Instagram so much. That’s our artist community digitally,” Ashlee Oreuano, 23, graphic design major, said. “It’s nice to be in a place where it’s like Instagram in real life, where you can say ‘hi’ to everyone.”
Though the marketplace took up most of the venue space, separate rooms included workshops and panels. Workshops took place throughout the day, and included topics as general as “How to Fold a Zine” to more in-depth topics like “Healing Thru Zines.”
“We have a lot of programming compared to some of the other major zine fests,” Garcia said.
Panel discussions included live podcast recording, Asian-American viewpoints on reflecting their experience through zine publishing, self-publishing as self-care and documenting local history through zines.
As for the future of zine fests in Long Beach and the future of independent zine publishers, Salimu said, “The future is folded.”