Wrexham is a small place, we all know that. But what everyone might not know is there’s a huge, bustling art and music revival happening in our very own town from amazing art exhibitions to music projects that are garnering global recognition.
Pushing Too Many Pencils and Neat Sleeper are zines that have been produced in Wrexham that put together collections of artists and writers work, showcasing what is out there from Wrexham and beyond, and for free. These zines have been available in countries ranging from Wales to America, exporting globally what we have on offer in this little Welsh border town with huge success.
Zines come in a range of different sizes or shapes. Generally they are a self-published small magazine, pamphlet or leaflet, generally centred around a specific topic and produced in small quantities.
Zines have been in circulation since the first printing presses kicked in to action. They range from pamphlets and leaflet styles circulated in 18th Century psychiatric institutions to playing a large part in freedom of speech in political activist movements, particularly of the seventies in circles such as the Baader Meinhof Gang (Red Army Faktion).
The culture of ‘zine’ facilitates the sharing of information and champions the freedom of speech. They are unrestricted by overbearing print houses or sponsors having the final word on whether the content would sit well with ‘the money people’. For an artist it can be a public sketchbook to try out new styles and techniques with the possibility of feedback and gaining new contacts.
If glossy, upmarket magazines are the dancing, label wearing, ‘life and soul’ of the party type, zines are the ‘will join in and have a laugh’, sit on the periphery, wont talk about themselves type, until asked, to which they become the most interesting person at the party and maybe your new pal.
A zine wont push loads of adverts in your face trying to get you to buy the best spot cream from a certain shop at a certain time, it will assume you already have made your own mind up about your skincare routine and wont need an airbrushed model to try and sway you. Most zines are free, which really shows the ethos of the movement and why it’s having such a resurgence of late. They are a labour of love rather than a money making scheme and with the way they are often made up, with such care and attention, this really shows.
The zine movement has risen and fallen over the hundreds of years it has been going but one factor will remain constant: anyone can do it. Its not a ‘phase’ to go through or stamped with age restrictions, anyone can produce one and put it out there the only pre-requisite is to do it on something you care about.
Zines are a great source of information on specific topics and an inexpensive way of finding out about something of interest or even for just simply passing the time with a brew. So if you ever see a little zine pick one up, you might love it, if you don’t, leave it somewhere for someone else to pick up.
www.neatsleeper.tumblr.com
www.pushingtoomanypencils.tumblr.com
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– Sian Katherine Anastasia O’Connel
