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ONE OF MY KIND ISSUE ONE: FABRIC
Hana Tajima
Racheal Dadd
Hannah Habibi
Betsy Greer
Ceri May
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printed by Ex Why Zed, Cambridge, UK www.exwhyzed.co.uk
Issue One, Spring 2013. Front cover collage image by Sofia Niazi. Origional photograph credited to W.M. Hunt. ŠOOMK Zine. If you wish to reproduce any artwork or writing from OOMK Zine please contact the relevant artist/s.
credits
For submissions, advertising and press queries please contact: oomkzine@gmail.com Facebook: OOMK Zine Twitter: @oomkzine www.oomk.net
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welcome
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contents ILLUSTRATION + 14 REENA MAKWANA
+ 15 ROSE NORDIN
+ 42 SIMONE RODNEY FOLI
+ 17 SABBA KHAN
+ 46 RAMA MASRI ZADA
+ 64 SOFIA NIAZI
FABRIC + 10 HANNAH HABIBI
+ 18 CERI MAY
+ 23 RUKIA BEGUM
+ 24 RACHAEL DADD + 40 HANA TAJIMA + HANNAH HILL
WRITTEN WORDS + 20 BETSY GREER + 48 HOLLY MEIER
+ 28 KATE ROLISON
+ 52 TALHA AHSAN + 56 TOLU ADEBANJO
PHOTOGRAPHY + 33 NAZMIN KHANOM & HUDDA KHAIREH
MORE + 09 SARAH HUDSON + 26 CHARLOTTE CULLEN + 32 NABILA CHOUDHURY
+ 54 MIMI BUTLER + 60 SHAMILA SPAUL
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the oomks One of my kind is a highly visual, handcrafted small-press publication. Our content largely pivots upon the imaginations, creativity and spirituality of women. We are Sabba Khan, Sofia Niazi And Rose Nordin
sofia illustrator + zine maker
editorial support by holly meier
sabba illustrator + cat lover
rose illustrator + designer
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fabric In our first issue we unpick the work of artists who explore fabric in interesting and inspiring ways. Their individual involvement, appreciation or struggle with the material gives us an insight into how women today incorporate fabric into their art and into their lives.
From the curtains that shut the world out to the bandages that help us heal, to the clothes that cover and protect us, we keep fabric close and always have.
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modest ambition hannah habibi hopkin
Stitch. Stitch. Stitch. The patience, the precision, the delicacy. Stitch after stitch lulling you into a sleep-like state. The repetition, the carefulness, the endurance. Stitch. Stitch. Stitch. The mantras of the seamstress: “Keep your hands clean”; “Don’t pull too tight”; “Keep your threads short”. With each stitch, seemingly surrendering your free will in the service of the creation of a bigger picture. Stitch. Stitch. Occasionally a needle pricks your finger, you pause to suck the blood away then carry on. This is the image of the submissive seamstress. There is something about needlework that seems to epitomise the so-called ‘virtues’ of womanhood. Throughout history and across the world, sewing, needlework, and embroidery have generally been the preserve of women. It conjures up visions of upper class women passing the time, middle class women with a ladylike occupation, and working class women weaving and sewing to serve and survive. And it appears that even
today we continue to see contemporary sewing in the same light: a modest ambition, acceptable and unthreatening. Work for women. Last year I started making a series of pieces involving all types of needlework: embroidery, appliqué, and quilting. I am not sure exactly what drove me to the needle and thread, but it is having a profound effect on my understanding of what it means to be a female artist.
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Modest Ambition
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r e e n a mak wa na city in stitch
Reena Makwana is one of our favourite illustrators. Her hand-embroidered illustrations never fail to impress and over the years she has produced a body of work that has been exhibited widely. Reena is not afraid to explore her personal interests; in a series called ‘Science Fiction Ladies’ she produced several beautiful illustrations of iconic women including Scully (The X-Files) and Ellen Ripley (Alien).
The above illustration of a street scene was featured in the last issue of the poetry and illustration publication inc. zine.
www.reenamakwana.com
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RO S E NO RD I N a-z
Graphic artist Rose Nordin illustrates a sweet and sad farewell narrative to an animal friend.
www.rose-nordin.com
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Tr ansi t of V e nus R ay B rad b ur y . 1 9 2 0 t o 2012 simone rodney-foli
He wrote prolifically, madly.
www.simonedraws.com
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K u r d i s h k i nd A photographic journal of travels in Syria by Hudda Khaireh and Nazmin Khanom.
Syria is home to many different ethnic, religious and migrant communities. Concentrated in the southern regions of Syria, one of its largest ethnic minorities are the Kurds. Syria’s Kurds have long faced routine discrimination and harassment at the hands of the Assad regime. In the face of the escalating conflict and uncertainty in Syria we turn the clocks back to 2009 and take a glimpse into the rural life of one Kurdish family through the eyes of two students from London.
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Rama Masri zada epic tales
Rama Masri Zada is a Syrian artist and writer whose charming depictions of Syrian life and culture have caught our eye. Rama paints instinctively, she has an eye for colour and despite receiving no formal training her paintings are wonderfully telling and full of life. Originally from Damascus, Rama currently works and resides in California, she is hopeful that the situation in her country will soon improve so she can return home. We hope Damascus will return to its former glory before too long and that it will offer her many more scenes to capture.
www.ramamasrizada.tumblr.com
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‘Man in a Public Café’ this painting depicts a typical scene from the old Damascene life, a man smoking “Arkila” or “Shisha”. Public cafes were the male place for entertainment, men would spend hours drinking chamomile or cumin tea or one of the many other traditional beverages and listening to the storytellers tell stories such as the epic love story Abla and Antara. ‘Abla is the Juliet’ heroine of Arab folklore. Her love story with Antara is very famous. Antara was a pre-Islamic Arabian hero and poet (525-608) famous both for his poetry and his adventurous life. What many consider his best or chief poem is contained in the Mu’allaqat. The account of his life forms the basis of a long and extravagant romance with Abla. Many artists have made collections of paintings depicting the epic story of Antara and Abla. These paintings are displayed in the public cafes the famous Al- Nofara Cafe in Damascus.
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Ma l a l a Y o us a fzai Below is a picture of Malala Yousafzai, a student and education activist from a town in the Swat District of Pakistan. On 9 October 2012, Malala was shot in the head and neck in an assassination attempt by Taliban gunmen while returning home on a school bus. She was injured severely and is currently being treated in a hospital in Birmingham. Girls pursuing education in Pakistan face many difficulties and while hostility from the Taliban affects many children it is not the only threat they face. Since 2010 US drone attacks have killed thousands of innocent people in Pakistan, including children, and as a result many are being taken out of school either out of fear of a drone-strike or to compensate for income lost from a dead or wounded relative. We truly admire Malala and her efforts: she is a brave and inspiring girl growing up in a very difficult time. Get well soon Malala, the world needs you!
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g ar e t h p e i r c e Gareth Peirce in an English solicitor who has been working since the 1970s on many cases that involve miscarriages of justice. Recently she has been representing two Muslim men from my local community, Talha Ahsan and Babar Ahmad, who have spent a total of 14 years in prison without trial, the longest to date. She, along with many others, had been trying to prevent their extradition to the US where they would ‘live’ in a supermax prison in solitary confinement for at least a year. Her tireless work to try and defend the human rights of men who many have condemned as terrorists and ‘unwelcome guests’ before they have even stood trial has been a great inspiration not only to me but to the men accused and their families and supporters. Even though both men have been extradited, Gareth continues to support them and has already arranged to see them in the US.
Poster by Sofia Niazi from Melanie Maddison’s zine ‘Shape and Situate #4: Posters of Inspirations European Women’. www.cotlzine.blogspot.co.uk
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Suspicious Minds tolu adebanjo
I’d like to say that when I bought “King of the Castle” that I read it straight away, eager to rush into the deeper elements of existence. But that’s not what happened. When I bought this book, I left it on my bookshelf for over a month. I did this because I was scared. Scared and suspicious. Every few days I would pick up the book, muse over its back cover then hastily put it to the back of the shelf, or rather to the back of my mind. The blurb said that the book dealt with “a consideration of secular societies” attempt to possess their citizens, body and soul, and how, as a consequence, the necessity of redefining human responsibility becomes [...] imperative”.
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I wouldn’t blame you if you suddenly have that same allergic reaction and want to dismiss this too. Possession of citizens, I thought? Not today. Redefinition, I thought? Don’t know what for. Responsibility, I thought... when was the last time I even read that word? Well, either way, I decided this book was strange. Too confrontational, too critical of a world where I was doing okay and I was getting by fine. When I did eventually get around to reading it, it was ‘made’ for me by the frank manner in which it had been written. Gai Eaton is an accidental writer, virtually stumbling into his first publishing experience with T.S.Elliot and the other publishing opportunities that followed it. Eaton’s essays are essentially a way for him to process his thoughts and his opinion in a style that is neither heavy handed nor whimsical. He explores, rather than answers, and reflects, rather than condemns. As a person fascinated by the study of religion all his life, Eaton seems like an individual naturally drawn to address the largest questions of existence. So: just what are those questions? Throughout King of the Castle we see that it’s not just the ‘why am I here?’ It’s the ‘why are we here,
in this form and for what purpose?’ It’s the question of whether this great modern individual is the ultimate development of self-renovation or self-destruction. As ever, Eaton sees a reason in all arguments and replies in the visual. Imagine, he says, a group of people in the desert. Thirsty and in need they look towards one mountain for hope of sustenance. Some see part of this mountain and take that to be the whole. Some see a section of the mountain and take it as a part. There are still others who have their back turned to the mountain, denying all existence of it altogether. Their opinion is at best in error and at worst catastrophic. As I made my way through images like this, I took moments of reflection in the same way I used to take moments of rejection. I thought to myself: What if those with their backs to the mountain should convince others to deny it? What if they led others to face the desert and their existence as merely a functional routine to ‘survive’? I thought back to that blurb. Perhaps Eaton has a point…
And I read on.
oomk 2 sub mi s sio ns print
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pledgers We couldn’t have made OOMK possible without our pledgers! Heres a page of some charities & projects as recomended by our donators. Anon Artistic Jihad www.artisticjihad.com Mark Bonshek Christies Cancer Research www.christie.nhs.uk Daniela Capistrano POC (People of Color) Zine www.poczineproject.tumblr.com Amneet Johal Medecins Sans Frontieres www.msf.org.uk Juliana Nordin Interpal www.interpal.org Michael John Pentecost Usurp Art Gallery & Studios www.usurp.org.uk
thank you!
Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
www.oomk.net twitter@oomkzine spring 2013