A zine making workshop will be held on 8th March, 2019, as part of the Chennai Photo Biennale (CPB). The workshop is mentored by Rohini Kejriwal, a writer, artist, photographer and an online curator.

Image courtesy of Instamojo.

Rohini is the founder of The Alipore Post, an online newsletter that curates a range of artistic works and has become a fascination among a community. “I started the newsletter to spread the poetry, art, music and articles that I loved, online”, says Rohini.

 Image courtesy of Rohini Kejriwal.

“It eventually became a community of like-minded people, whom I engage through workshops and other offline events. I also started a submission-based website that acts as a platform to discover new talent”, says Rohini.

Association with CPB and Zine Making 

“I first discovered the Biennale last year. Thereafter, I encountered Anshika Varma’s photo series on the village of Alcott near Chennai, which made me even more fascinated by their curation. Finally, I was introduced to the team through photographer Ritesh Uttamchandani, who thought we could do something together”, says Rohini.

Previous workshops. Image courtesy of Rohini Kejriwal.

This brought the idea of a Zine making workshop. “The material and the narrative”, says Rohini, “comes from personal physical photographs that the participant has shot themselves or from their family archive.”

“I’m thrilled about this one because it’s my first proper workshop outside Bangalore, and it’s a new format I’m exploring, which is challenging and exciting for me. Being someone who loves photography and photo series that come to life, I can’t wait to explore Chennai and the many Biennale venues and see what our country’s photographers have been working on”, says Rohini.

Image courtesy of woohoochild.

What are Zines? 

Before today’s stan twitter there were the ‘fanzines’, created by sci-fi enthusiasts of the early twentieth century. Fans of all backgrounds self-published and shared their interests via zines without looking for the corporate sales.  A zine (a smaller magazine), can help develop one’s creative identity by sharing a niche skill or art and storytelling.

Image courtesy of Fanzines.

The Great Depression collapsed magazines production and fans took to making zines. Popular themes were rock and roll, punk, comics, horror and more. You can sell your Zines or give as gifts at a number of publishing outlets exhibitions and libraries. Zine festivals also come up a lot around the globe. In the digital age, we also see E-zine creators. Some examples are ‘alt.zines’ and ‘zine wiki’.

The workshop 

The workshop will teach participants more about the history and techniques of making zines. Participants can learn the zine making skills to combine images and text in multiple ways. Photocopies of the participants’ zines will be published at different venues of the Biennale, for visitors to discover the artwork.

Image courtesy of Rohini Kejriwal.

Participants can think of their concepts and narratives, and carry materials to make their zines. More details and registration for the workshop are on CPB’s website here and on Instamojo.

Image courtesy of Rohini Kejriwal.

Follow more of Rohini’s works at woohoochild, her Instagram page, and scroll.in.

The Chennai Photo Biennale 

The CPB Foundation is a non-profit charitable trust and they founded the Biennale with Goethe-Institut in Chennai in 2016 as a public arts initiative. CPB aims to promote photographic art, meaningful socio-cultural discussion and educational activities.

Image courtesy of CPB.

The growing fascination for photography was met with the challenge of shortage in display spaces. CPB started off by using public spaces like parks and trains stations and galleries to exhibit talented works for the public to witness. Eventually CPB built its first edition which received over a 100,000 visitors.

>Via Chennai Photo Biennale.