Soft weapons: finding peers in archives

Join June Bellebono and Tamara Hart for a workshop that explores how to find peers in archives through zine-making.

In this session, we’ll craft pocket zines using material from iniva and MayDay Rooms archives —from a sailor moon-themed notebook to communist newspapers. Speaking to the experiences of our queer ancestors, our zines will touch on hidden radical histories and forms of peer support through storytelling. As zine-makers, we become fellow caretakers: exchanging tips, tools, tears and pain. As we document our experiences, we build soft weapons for political action.

Our zines become the stories of distant suns, our archives the tissues of solidarity. Following the session, attendees are invited to photocopy their creations and archive them in iniva and Mayday Rooms, with the aim of crossing paths with, and becoming peers to future visitors.

This workshop is intended for young people (16-25) from marginalised backgrounds, i.e. Black, QTI/people of the majority, working class, migrant, disabled.

Limited places. Sign-up here.

Facilitators

June Bellebono is a London-based writer, cultural producer and facilitator. They are the founder of oestrogeneration, a magazine platform highlighting transfeminine voices in the UK, and of Queer Good Grief, a peer support group by and for bereaved LGBTQ+ people. They have written for gal-dem, HUCK and Novara Media, and have organised events for Somerset House, Autograph ABP, QUEERCIRCLE and Museum of the Home. @junebellebabe

Tamara Hart is a visual anthropologist based in London. Their research adopts visual caretaking as a mode to explore identity formation and social remapping within mental health structures, with a focus on queer practices of care. They have written for various publications such as Frieze, Spike Magazine, Gruppe and Sleek Mag. They are currently a contributing editor for the LGBTQI+ artist support network and curatorial platform Queerdirect. @cyber_fem

Image: A collection of zines ©MayDay Rooms, 2023