What are Zines?
Unless you have some prior knowledge on the subject, the term "zine" may be new to you. So waht exactly are they anyway? Well, there is no one, universal defininion. Zines are homemade magazines or booklets, often photocopied or printed in black and white that are self published in small runs and distributed by the creator. By virtue of their small scale, zines are totally products of the individual or individuals that create them and are not subject to the same oversight or regulation as traditionally published media. This means that zines can be about almost anything and take just about any form. There are zines with pictures and writing, like those exhibited here, zines that are purely text, zines that are comics and a whole plethora of visual art zines that range from baroque paintings and collages to simple line drawings. Today there are even digital zines, adding a whole ne medium to the genre. The question "what is a zine?" then is not no simple. The term can refer to a whole range of artifacts but what ties zines together and unites them under a single word is a common emphasis on independence of thought and form and the basic medium of the printed page (be it physical or digital).
This independent, "do it yourself" ethos means that anyone can make a zine. As a result they often represent marginalized or extreme voices ignored or censored in mainstream media. This makes zines a prime medium for sub-cultures, political dissidents and those dissatisfied with society to express themselves. Accordingly, many zines are centered on punk, feminism and radical politics.
What makes zines so important is that they document the thoughts and feelings of otherwise ignored parts of the community. They democratize the power to record history and spread ideas. In so doing give the reader the rare opportunity to see into the life and mind of another citizen or observe the arguments and aesthetics of a subcultural movement.
As such zines have been with punk music since the beginning. While the mainstream media was quick to condemn the movement, zines allowed punks to express their aesthetics and ethos on their own terms. As elements of punk merged with skateboarding during the 1980's zines came along with them. Since then, skateboarders have created mountains of zines. All depict the act of skateboarding itself but and among the action shots one can see medium's punk rock roots in the zine's aesthetics, tone and integration of music.