In mid-June 2024, I was invited to hold an online zine-making workshop for a community support group based in Edinburgh which offers space for those with Long Covid to connect and share experiences and strength. The group, OurCovid Community, was founded by the recent charity Covid Aid but is now a member-run organisation. This is a wonderful community to be involved with as the members work incredibly hard, pushing past often complex, fatiguing, and painful symptoms, to support one another and heal collectively through various workshops, discussions, and activities.
I was invited to work with the group by Kate McLachlan, who had previously partaken in my masters zine-making research project and now organises events for her community. She explained that she had been reflecting on how much she had valued the zine-making workshop I organised in 2023, and that she had been wanting to share this creative opportunity with others in a similar position.
Together, we planned how the workshop would look, including considering what topics people might like to explore in their zines, the kinds of zines we would demonstrate how to make, the materials we would suggest individuals gather (with close attention to the digital nature of the workshop meaning materials would have to be accessible and affordable), and how people might like to share their finished zines. In the end, we decided to attend to the topic of Long Covid as a shared experience within the group - and a topic that requires more research through engaged knowledge production and communication - so I thought up some prompts to think with and Kate made sure that all zinesters-to-be would have access to pens, paper, a magazine, and a glue stick.
I began by providing a brief history of zines from their role in punk and feminist micropolitics in the 1980s, to their perzine, travel zine, or art zine form, all the way to their role in health humanities research. I shared some digital examples of my own and others' creations which I believe highlight the methodological value of craft for knowledge production and communication. I sought zines which drew on experiences around Covid, quarantine, and health to dispel any qualms the community might have about wanting to share personal, messy, or heavy topics through their zines.
Two particularly useful sources are linked below:
The Wellcome Collection's curation of Quaranzines by Lilith (Lea) Cooper: https://wellcomecollection.org/articles/ZH20uxAAACIA9bi6
Katie Ravenscraig's collaborative quaranzine: https://katieravenscraig.com/projects/quarantine-zine-2020
We chose to make mini-zines as these would require less time and commitment to finish, so we hoped that they would appear less daunting and enable individuals to feel a sense of achievement on having completed one. I gave a short tutorial on how to fold a mini-zine and discussed the possibilities for how some of the craft materials might be used in different ways depending on how individuals felt and approached the zine-making process. Perhaps the magazine is ripped not cut; perhaps the paper is scrunched not folded.
I wrote up some prompts and open questions around the theme of Long Covid and knowledge communication that the zinesters could choose to follow if they wished; alternatively, they were able to follow where the materials took them in the creative process. The prompts included:
What does long covid mean to you?
What do you wish I knew?
Tell me about your day today.
How does it feel to be listened to?
What would you tell yourself now if you went back to when this all started?
What was it like when everything started to change?
What has been your best day?
How would you change things?
Who are you?
The workshop took place online, as do most of the group's community events, in order to minimise the energy demands of a physical gathering and allow people to create from the comfort of their own homes, perhaps lying down in bed or sitting with a cup of tea. Kate was careful to suggest regular breaks and to remind people at various points that there were no requirements to speak, have cameras on, or stay on the call. Everyone was encouraged to follow their bodies and needs. Prompts were posted in the chat, along with links to digital zines, and summaries of the discussions that were taking place so that conversations could be easily followed and referred back to. Together, we tried to make the most accessible and comfortable space for people to create zines together.
During the closing part of the workshop, where individuals held up their zines to show others, some of the individuals shared that through making these zines they came to realise the successes they had achieved whilst living with Long Covid, better than their unfinished To-Do lists might suggest, and that through making zines with others, one individual felt validated that this is more than just cutting and sticking: it is a form of healing. One zinester, Elizabeth, shared her full zine with me after the workshop, explaining that she found the workshop therapeutic and it had inspired her to begin drawing again as a way to express her experiences as she finds it tricky to write about what she is going through in a journal.
At the end of the workshop, each zinester was invited to share their work with the others. It was wonderful to see the collective support and positivity that surrounded each zine and its artist. In the final moment, I requested that all the zinesters hold up their favourite page of their zine - perhaps the one which spoke the most to them, the most aesthetically pleasing, or the one they worked the hardest on - to the camera. This collective sharing is photographed at the top of this blogpost.
Since this event, Kate has begun hosting her own Quiet Creative Space for community members to work on their own projects in each others' supportive company and she told me that this has allowed space for members to "connect on things beyond illness." It is wonderful to hear about this project and the opportunity this is providing for community, creativity, and healing.
Enjoy your exploration!
Comments