Chicago Zine Fest/ The Incluseum / Hilal Omar Al Jamal / Warrior / Sins Invalid
Pictures and Words Magazine
Issue #3
Quickest Flipest Issue No. 3
www.quickestflip.com
CONTRIBUTORS editor in chief & layout designer
Jamie Walsh editor
Andrew Hampton interviewers
Mary Duke Katrina Laura Ketchum Mary Morgan Maya Mu帽oz-Tob贸n Angie Valetutto quickest flipest logo
David Jaberi
cover image
Cactus Colony
Ian Pyper
quickest flip logo
Jason Arsaga
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS: Ian Pyper Katrina Laura Ketchum Dorota Pankowska James Angello Karen Johnson Sam Smith Synthia Nicole Chris Clavin David Jaberi Sarkis Keushkerian Ash Hudson Elliott C Nathan Michel Sargent Isabel Vartanian Clara Bessijelle Alisa Bobzien Perry Johnson Nathan Thomas Jennifer Tamashiro Diana Marie Behl Honor Dunn Ginger Chen Paul Mashammer Ashley Dornblum Mike Brummer
Cicely Ames Arthaya Nootecharas Seth Fitzpatrick Michael LeVell
FEATURES Interview with Leslie Perrine of the Chicago Zine Fest by Katrina Laura Ketchum Interview with Rose Paquet Kinsley and Aletheia Wittman of The Incluseum by Maya Mu帽oz-Tob贸n
Interview with writer Hilal Omar Al Jamal by Mary Duke Interview with Caitlin Harper artist known as Warrior by Mary Morgan Interview with Leroy Franklin Moore, Jr. of Sins Invalid by Angie Valetutto
Katrina Laura Ketchum
NY City Love
digital photograph
Dorota Pankowska
Family Portrait. digital photograph
CHICAGO ZINE FEST
An interview with CZF Organizer: Leslie Perrine
The popularity of zine-making through independent publishing is huge right now, and every year it seems to grow. What are three words you’d use to describe zine culture? Awesome, Fun, Community
How does the Chicago Zine Fest differ from other Zine Festivals you’ve been to? What makes CZF stand out? One thing we have tried really hard to do with CZF is to create a weekend of events rather than just a day of people selling stuff. In the past we’ve had an art show, Zine Olympics, a film festival, and we regularly host a youth and exhibitor reading. This year, we’ve created a game show called “Zine, Lose or Draw” which I’m really excited about. I think we as organizers are always thinking of the kind of zine fest we would want to attend and so we try to keep it exciting and fun. Also, being in a huge, centralized city, our festival is a lot larger than a lot of other fests. This can be both good and challenging. We constantly try to find the balance between a huge citywide fest and something that maintains the underground DIY feeling of what zine-making is. It’s hard to keep a small feeling of community with over 200 tablers, and yet every year, the demand for tables grows. It can be tricky. What is the formula, or rather, the mix of ingredients / circumstances that needs to exist in order for this Festival to happen?
Haha, this is a great question. I’d say it’s definitely a mix of non-stop work, weekly 3-4hr meetings for 7 months of the year, tons of excitement, a great group of volunteers, a lot of pretzel rods and a dash of luck. We have a core group of organizers for the fest who all volunteer their time to make it happen and it takes a lot of time planning. We try to make our meetings fun and enjoyable in order to
keep up the enthusiasm it takes to organize an event for 7 months out of the year! We’ve also been really lucky every year with finding amazing people who want to support our little festival and make it what it is today - from businesses that will donate for fundraisers, to people who will help hang posters all over the city to promote. It takes a lot of people, time and heart to make the festival happen every year. As an arts & community organizer, we know it’s hard to pick favorites. But, if you had to, what would you say is your all time favorite zine? That is really hard, especially since within the zine community most everyone whose zines I like to read are now also my friends. Currently though, I have been most inspired and excited reading the zine Deafula. Kerri writes really amazingly about her experiences being deaf, and for me, reading it has made me think in new ways and about things I had never considered before, which I think is the sign of any great writer. I’m excited that she is going to be a guest at the Chicago Zine Fest this year and part of our panel on disability and health. What advice would you give to anyone who is interested in starting a publication of their own?
Just do it. A lot of people psych themselves out about who they are writing for or where their writing is going to be seen, but really, it’s most important to just create. The world of self-publishing has opened me up to so many different experiences and people that I honestly can’t imagine if I wouldn’t have ever started doing this. And I did it just how anyone did: I wrote something I cared about, drew some pictures, went down to the copy shop and all of a sudden, it existed! It’s a pretty awesome and amazing feeling to put something into the world that didn’t exist before.
http://www.chicagozinefest.org https://www.facebook.com/chicagozinefest chicagozinefest@gmail.com
Interviwed by: Katrina Laura Ketchum
James Angello
The Cat and the Boulder mixed media on panel 27 x 23 x 7 1/2�
“The Side-by Side series is a collaboration that came about when Sam had some questions about my painting. I was happy to describe the elements, but much more interested in seeing how Sam experienced it. The outcome was pleasing all around and more are planned.” - Karen Johnson “Karen posted it saying “Oh dear.” I said “What’s the problem?” All I could see was the road, that looked like the shape of a teepee. Then you said “this poor fellow didn’t look both ways.” That’s when I understood what it was. So then the “poor fellow” became someone living in a tent, by the side or the road. And the satellite dish was an ironic touch.” - Sam Smith
Above: Karen Johnson
Dead Zone gauche 11” x 14”
Left: Sam Smith
Poor Fellow
ink and pastel drawing 14” x 17”
Synthia Nicole
mi familia photo collage
Chris Clavin
Catfish J. / Hannah and Fiona. Kara. / Adam McEnemy with his cat. marker portraits
An interview with Rose Paquet Kinsley & Aletheia Wittman of The Incluseum Interviwed by: Maya Muñoz-Tobón
The Incluseum is a project based in Seattle, Washington seeking to encourage social inclusion in museums. What does Incluseum mean? “Incluseum” is a blend of two words: Inclusion and Museum and captures our mission to encourage social inclusion in museums. A friend suggested this name and we thought it was perfect for referring to complicated matters in a more playful and light-hearted manner ... although we believe our work is important, we wanted to avoid sounding too somber or stuffy. The Incluseum represents our dream museum, one in which issues of social inclusion are central and shape the future standard for museums. Could you tell me what motivated you to start the Incluseum blog?
Over the last few years, we’ve had a growing awareness of the fact that museums, although public in nature, mainly serve a non-diverse population (i.e., white, well-educated, middle- to upper-class individuals). We see this unequal access to museum resources as problematic, because it is detrimental to the idea of museums existing for the public good and potentially reinforces patterns of exclusion and disadvantage in society. This realization was compounded by our graduate studies in Museology at the University of Washington. For our respective Master’s thesis topics, each of us examined new strategies for museum inclusion of individuals experiencing homelessness (Rose) and local communities when they are largely comprised of residents who have low income status and/or are people of color (Aletheia). We discovered that although examples of socially inclusive practices in museums exist, they are not always easy to find. It occurred to us that perhaps the compilation, documentation, and exchange of inclusive museum projects was an area that needed to be strengthened. How do you see your role in the Incluseum blog?
We view our role as facilitators and coordinators of dialogue that seeks to serve people from within the museum field, as well as academics and those doing direct service work in our communities. Specifically, we invite guest bloggers to share their work and expertise addressing issues of social inclusion. We also
seek ways to create real-time conversations through discussion groups in the community and at conferences (or similar events).
Who have you noticed participates and contributes to the blog more often? Our initial readership emerged from our connections with people in museumrelated professions and academic programs. Our readership has grown to now encompass people from all over the world and of diverse backgrounds. We are currently trying to collect concrete data about this audience in order to better connect with the interests and needs of our readers. If you visit our blog, be sure to tell us what you think and share your ideas or projects with us! How does the Incluseum participate in offline projects and initiatives?
We don’t currently have a set programming schedule and respond to opportunities as they arise. For example, through recent partnership with Seattle’s Emerging Museum Professional group, we hosted a discussion group on how museums are currently addressing issues of race, racism, and privilege and how they can better do so in the future. For us, this was an inaugural discussion. We are in the process of forming an advisory group to help us kickstart an ongoing series of discussions that would explore these issues more in depth. What do you see in the near future for the Incluseum blog?
In the future, we wish to broaden the scope of our posts to include, for example, more on the inclusion of those in our communities that are LGBTQ, indigenous, and/or immigrant. We are also interested in hosting posts on gender issues and the greater inclusion and empowerment of youth. Additionally, we are looking to connect with organizations doing direct service work with these various groups to both learn from them and investigate opportunities to bridge museums to the work they do. Anything else you want Quickest Flipest to know about the ins and outs of Incluseum?
Read it, tell your friends, and feel free to tell us how the Incluseum could help you build community around issues of social inclusion. We are always interested in hosting the writing, research, examples, and commentary of people doing socially inclusive work.
http://incluseum.wordpress.com/ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheIncluseum Twitter: @incluseum Email: incluseum@gmail.com
David Jaberi
Farsi
silkscreen on paper
Sarkis Keushkerian
Bloom
oil on canvas 18”x 24”
Ash Hudson
Kitchen Kitty collage
Elliott C Nathan
Angular San Francisco Repurposed Wood
elliottcnathan.com
An interview with
hilal omar al jamal
What got you into writing? Culture. I’m really fortunate to have been thoughtfully receptive and creatively reactive to my acculturation. How long have you been a writer?
I started writing poems, songs, and stories as a kid. Throughout my childhood, my adolescence, and my adulthood, I’ve written creatively. I’m a musician as well as an author; my lyrics gained me some popularity in Los Angeles’ DIY music scene.
Folktale Records released my first album, Melting Wax Daisies and the Demoralization of Urban Culture, in 2005 and my second release, Home Recordings, was released in 2009, the same year my poem “avalanche” was accepted for publication. That said, I guess I’ve been writing for no more than 20 years and no less than 3.
You have been creating terro(a)r, a book of poetry, prose, and illustrations. Can you explain the inspiration behind this work? I committed myself to the project about a year ago, inspired as much by my academic work as a literary and cultural critic as by my experiences as a musician in the DIY music and arts scene in Southern California. Under the moniker Brother Mitya, I released a record in 2011 called Terror (Folktale Records) in collaboration with a number of good friends, including illustrator and musician Kristina Collantes, musician Ryan Beal of Norse Horse, and Aaron Freeman of Mothers of Gut, to name just a few of my collaborators on that project. Kristina, who sings on the record, is also responsible for its amazing cover art, a graphic representation of the lyrics to the title track “terror,” a poem also featured in our book. That project coupled with my academic research into trauma theory, the poetry of Raúl Zurita, and the art actions of Colectivo Acciones de Arte inspired me to start working on terro(a)r. I began organizing the project around the themes of trauma and terror; it became a semi-autobiographical (mis-)representation of my love-stricken life, my psychology, and my worldview.
What were the major challenges in writing terro(a)r and the self-publishing process? The major challenges of writing and self-publishing—revising and layout work, respectively. I spent about 10 months revising the poetry and prose in terro(a)r. I’m convinced that editing is the most important activity in the writing process, even more important than the initial composition. It was challenging to say the least to fashion something cohesive and relatively accessible to my readers out of what began as a hodgepodge of cryptic writings.
As for self-publishing, layout work was probably the most challenging step. Kristina offered up an initial layout, the assignment was then passed on to Mark Gatteneu, whose work was extraordinary but didn’t quite result in the design I had in mind. I got a copy of Adobe InDesign and took on the layout work myself, making a number of relatively minor adjustments to Mark and Kristina’s layout and preparing the final draft for print. Do you have any other writing projects in the works?
I’m working on wrapping up a project called smut. It’s a chapbook length collection of sonnets about pornography, fetishism, and sexuality. Each of the ten sonnets will be accompanied by a full-page illustration by Chris Payne. The release also incorporates a soundtrack composed and arranged by Jocelyn Jade Noir (Alak). Smut should be released by March 2013.
I’m currently starting to work on a project called enfim. The project involves hyper-translations of poems I’ve written in a hybrid of Portuguese and Spanish and am translating into English, syllable by syllable. The poem “em translatión” featured in terro(a)r is written (hyper-translated) in the mode I’ve described:
em translatión from terro(a)r original: (¿) por-qué dé-vemos tô-mar em cüenta o que inter-pret-amos , sómos y tejemos en las telas entre am(b)os (.)
em translatión (¿) why, be-cause we should look to that sea for ourselves, who, delivered and interwoven, are lonesome quilting points in the fabrics of our masters ’ (b)lackened loves (.)
For enfim, I’ll be collaborating with some visual artists in Brazil, where I currently live and work as a language specialist. It’s probably clear by now that I’m really into collaborations. Do you have any specific writing rituals or routines?
Writing rituals or routines? None. I should probably consider developing a routine; I’m a pretty undisciplined writer.
How do you work through moments of writer’s block? Any advice for other writers in their pursuits? I don’t believe that I’ve ever experienced writer’s block. I’ve gone through periods of shit-writing. I worked through them by earnestly endeavoring to
write more thoughtfully and revising my work. Advice: don’t overcomplicate the writing process with nonsense like “writer’s block.” Just sit the fuck down and be productive! Who is one of your favorite authors?
Vicente Aleixandre is one of my favorite authors, especially his book La destrucción o el amor.
Did you celebrate when your project was funded on Kickstarter? If so, how? Kickstarter is fantastic. I really can’t thank our contributors enough for their support. I was really happy when I learned that our project was fully funded. I think I cracked open a bottle of cachaça and spent that night working on the book.
You are a musician in addition to being a writer. Do you prefer one art form over the other? Does either art form inspire the other? I feel like I am sort of on hiatus from songwriting. I’m a lot more invested in writing poetry and prose at the moment. Preference? I prefer to blur the lines between prose, poetry, lyrics, and music. Anything else you’d like to share about terro(a)r or yourself as an artist?
Kristina Collantes is an amazing illustrator and a wonderful person. Her contributions to terro(a)r are beautiful. I am very lucky to have worked with her on this project. terro(a)r was self-published in collaboration with folktale records (www.folktalerecords.com), an independent record label based in Los Angeles. Folktale distributes paperback editions of terro(a)r. The book is also available in high quality pdf format on my website (www.hilalomaraljamal. com). I want to thank all of our (future) patrons (in advance) for supporting our work by purchasing our book and/or sharing their reactions to and interest in our art with others.
http://www.hilalomaraljamal.com/
Interviwed by: Mary Duke
Michel Sargent
Mad River Breach slide manipulated with bleach, glue, sharpies, food coloring and layering of other slides
Isabel Vartanian
Hummingbirds
watercolor & watercolor pencil on paper 22� x 30�
Clara Bessijelle
Hiding
Graphite pencil 8.5�x 5�
Alisa Bobzien
Antlers and Axes
digital and hand illustration thesiblingshop.etsy.com
Perry Johnson
Shemp Howard marker on paper, 2012 8.5” x 11”
I.
The Secret King and What He Stole by Nathan Thomas
Dark was the night and long was the road, deep was the sky, and heavy, the load. Benjamin Koen set the handles of his wooden cart down at his tired heels and took the hand of his wife, Erith. Together, hand-in-hand, they looked up, up into that deep sky –so full of stars that it looked like it was swirling with silver fire– and the caress of the wind was strong and still sweet from an afternoon of whipping through the tall grass of the flats. No prophecy led them here. The planets had not aligned in any particularly mystical configuration, no dice had been cast, nor runes carved from a dragon’s teeth; the tarot deck lay untouched. Instead, there was only Benjamin and Erith Koen, clothing rent to rags, gaunt with famine, fragile in the dark and silver night, together, speaking Old Words, softly, “Baruch dayan ha’emet.” Those words, like all the Old Words, hold locked within them worlds of meaning: stories and mysteries, and old, deep, secret magic. Baruch dayan ha’emet: the greatest of storytellers can scarcely approach how intimately Benjamin and Erith knew it and how they had dwelt within the holy and despairing depths of the ancient phrase. But to begin to unravel that Great Mystery, we must start here, with these travellers at the end of a long, dark journey. Their hearts were full of sorrow, but still they might yet trust. Erith had decided: their spirits were broken, and still they may yet stand. Benjamin decided: their feet will walk; their hands, work. Still their spirits were young enough to reach out in the night to the Great Wild Knowing, and still by night, their arms reached out to one another. So, when two such travellers speak “baruch dayan ha’emet,” a vulgar but wellintentioned translation may be, “Our devastated hearts, torn open, might now be wide enough to let inside some secret, quiet Truth.” For two full seasons, shadows chased the couple far along a strange and perilous road. Monsters had pursued them on foot and horseback, through field and forest, through cities, towns, and wayward camps. There is no refuge from the beasts who stalk, torment, and taunt their prey by day and night. Some wore fine clothing, some were of blade and cross and brigandine, or were servants of The Book Which Always Thirsts, or of a golden crown, or gold itself –the Réal, Mark, and Guilder. The wanderers believe that every monster to the last would learn, too late, the true name of their lord was hunger. Hunger was the secret king of all the southern lands, and to it, every knee was bent. Grand histories recall the mighty hands that clutched at lands beyond the western seas, whose sight could penetrate the heavens, who stole and tasted nature’s secrets. They were wondrous birds in gilded cages, singing praises of mankind to please their patrons: the great, fat heirs of heaven and of earth. So glories were gutted from marble, splattered in plaster, pigment, parchment; and all proclaimed the race of man renewed, and resurrected, and ablaze. They named mankind the measure of all things, and they crowned him king, with fingers poised to touch
the very hand of God– that same divinity who chose the masters to burn brightest, and to leave the rest abandoned in the ashes. Those were hunger’s children in the cinders –a million, and a million million more unnamed, unnumbered faces, souls, and memories– all swallowed in his maw. Every street and doorstep that the two travellers passed, every empty pot and sack were tracts in hunger’s bitter kingdom. But the ghetto was his bastion, his cathedral, where they saw every soul work under hunger’s ever-present eye, and pray in hunger’s echo, and sleep inside the hollow of his palm. Every infant born there is a child born to bondage, to be silently devoured in the neverending gnawing, in the emptiness of ‘not enough’. That king-in-rags was ever a companion to the Koens, gnashing its teeth and taking all it could swallow; so they starved. They starved, and they walked, losing much along the way. Bit by bit their coin was spent or stolen, then their freedom, dignity, and nearly all that might bring hope: a secret in Erith’s silver locket; the Holy Name in delicate filigree emblazoned on a cylinder of brass; Benjamin’s precious books of old stories, on the secrets of clockwork, and all the Old Words; but dearest, and cruellest of all, their own flesh and blood. It was hunger that ripped the child away from Erith’s bosom, for whom Benjamin, with his round spectacles broken, and Erith, with her braided hair cropped short and crooked, together ripped the ragged threads across their hearts in sorrow. It was hunger still that drove them on along the exile’s road, and far to the North, to glowing pinprick windows of Röric; and food, and rest, and solace, at last. Röric was a whispered call among all of hunger’s children, and would soon draw out the Tamer of Devils, and the Blazing Ones, and the wayward doctor, and the long-dead alchemist who’d soon split the world wide. Baruch dayan ha’emet. (End Part I)
Jennifer Tamashiro
Unititled, 2012 acrylic on paper 24” x 18”
Diana Marie Behl
LINN
graphite, mixed media + collage on paper 11.25�x 9.25�
WARRIOR
Artist “Warrior�, also known as Caitlin Mary Harper, is the very picture of multi-talented creativity and inspired dreamer. This wonderful woman can play multiple instruments like the ukulele and dulcimer, shape and assemble authentic Appalachian mountain furniture, fashion a Crow breastplate, give a forgotten doll a home and a new avocation. She can sculpt ceramics, write beautifully about her visions, take telling photographs of her travels, and paint in oils and MS Paint alike! Caitlin grew up in Chicago and got her undergrad from Centre College, a small liberal arts school in Kentucky. Later, she lived in Vienna as a Fulbright Research Grantee and wrote about outsider art and Art Brut. She has recently been involved in clinical studies and research for Schizophrenia and related mental illness; even teaming up with a patient for projects in inclusive artmaking! She will soon be moving to Santa Fe, NM, to attend grad school and become a counselor/art therapist (the degree is for both!). What is she working on right now? MASKS. Magical masks.
http://caitlinharper.com
Caitlin, can you show and tell us a little bit about your recent explorations into mask-making? Mask-making has been a very interesting and special process for me. I begin by making a plaster cast of my face, using those plaster medical strips doctors use for making casts for broken arms and such. I then use papier-mâché to reinforce the structure of the mask and add extra detail and ornamentation. Sometimes I’ll add antlers, horns, tentacles, ears, or tree branches to the little guys using chicken wire and papier-mâché. After a couple of days of drying, I like to paint the masks using acrylic paint. Sometimes I’ll add feathers or whiskers. I never begin a mask with a plan. It sounds totally kooky, but when I am beginning the papier-mâché phase, I just listen with my hands to what the mask wants to become. I’m not thinking about anything in particular, but just letting the mask’s character come through. It’s a form of channeling for me.
It’s funny, because about a year after I started making masks, another artist friend texted me some information about shamanism and masks. Some North American Indian shamans use masks to channel spirit helpers. I didn’t know about this until after I started my process. It came about organically for me.
For me art is not about control, it’s about listening. I was classically trained at Centre to want to achieve accuracy and perfection, but now I see that as a form of artistic violence. You don’t want to force something to be, you want to listen to what it wants to be. I’ve always agreed with Jean Dubuffet and Paul Klee: creating should follow the laws of nature. I like to let my work organically evolve rather than strictly following a structured plan and then getting upset when it all falls apart. This is how my process works, and I guess, how my life works! What is behind your artist name of Warrior?
I needed a strong name. A couple of years ago, I was going through a tricky time and was very sad over a loss. I started having dreams about this warrior helping a little girl. The little girl looked like a doll. She was really pretty and wore a pink
dress and had long golden curls. The warrior was strong. He would take her for rides on his horse and protect her when she was in trouble. One night, he told me that when I am ready, he will come into my life as a real man, and we will get married. I think he was the masculine part of my psyche. We all have a masculine and feminine side, and life seems to go smoothest when these sides are balanced. Anyhow, I started calling my art Warrior because a warrior protects my dream world. My art is a physical manifestation of my dream world, so I need the warrior to protect me on the outside as well!
When is your next gallery showing and are your works for purchase? My next show is on February 23rd at Space Club HQ, a gallery in Chicago. I’m curating a show of my art along with the art I make with my friend the Black Timelord. The show is called “The Baby Children of Isolation.” Isolation is a planet located somewhere between bedtime and that first cup of coffee in the morning. It’s a planet where the kooky artists dwell while they’re making their work. My work is always for purchase! I try to keep my prices very low, so that the people can enjoy my work. Have you done any commissions? What were their stories?
I’ve been really lucky to have people commission masks from me. I made one friend a Cthulhu mask. His face had tentacles on it! I also made a sassy tiger
for a friend in a band. I used old guitar strings for his whiskers. He wears the mask when he performs sometimes. Another friend asked me to make a raven mask for her. The raven has pokey feathers sticking all over her head.
When I’m doing a commission or making a mask for someone in particular, I’ll often put on music, light candles, and think about the person I’m making the mask for in my heart. It seems to help me to feel inspired and connect with what he really wants out of his mask. What are the meanings and significance of masks to you?
Masks are very magical and powerful. They reflect an inner world to the outer world. They are portraits of our psyches. They allow us to show our wild inner dreams or to make physical the spirit friends who help us through life. What is on the horizon for Warrior studio work?
Hmmm … Well, I’ve been really excited about using found objects and nature objects in my masks. I’ve started using tree branches as antlers.
I’ve also started using old prescription bottles and bottling rainbows in them. I’m really excited about prescription rainbows.
I’d like to move into a new realm with my art, where my pieces act more as healing objects. What I mean is incorporating special healing herbs, spells, and spirits into the work and the artistic process. I think it would be super fun and exciting to make pieces that are crosses between shamanism and artwork.
Interviwed by: Mary Morgan
Honor Dunn
OH
acrylic on canvas 5.5” x 3.5”
Ginger Chen
Discovering
Collaged cut paper 5 1/2” x 7 1/2”
Paul Moshammer
drift fishing
ink drawing & collage, 2012 8� x 8�
Ashley Dornblum
Untitled
buttons and acrylic on canvas
Sins Invalid
Interview by Angie Valetutto
I had the pleasure of interviewing Leroy Franklin Moore, Jr., Co-Founder and Community Relations Director of Sins Invalid, a performance project in the San Francisco Bay Area that “incubates and celebrates artists with disabilities, centralizing artists of color and queer and gender-variant artists as communities who have been historically marginalized.” Sins Invalid, pronounced in•val•id, as in “not valid” seeks to “develop and present cuttingedge work where normative Leroy Franklin Moore, Jr // Photo by Pamela Juhl paradigms of ‘normal’ and ‘sexy’ are challenged, offering instead a vision of beauty and sexuality inclusive of all individuals and communities.”
___________________________________________________ I am inspired by the story of the creation of Sins Invalid. It’s my understanding that it began in 2006 out of the friendship and conversations between you and Patty Berne. In your video, you talk about the creation of the first show and how it began as a way to share a few films with friends and colleagues. What are your thoughts now about how far Sins Invalid has come from where it started? Sins Invalid has came a long way since our first year from an event to the creation of disability justice that I have to say this practice came from the beautiful, sharp and creative mind of my good friend Patty Berne. From a show to going into colleges and social justice organizations locally and nationally with not only our cultural work but also our disability justice curriculum that Patty has cranked out is just incredible. However like any ideal that goes from creativity to institutionalized organization becomes loaded down by paper work and bureaucracy that comes along with being in an institution. Trying to keep our artistic flowers in the downfall of everyday requirements under institutionalization aka non-profit industry. I think Sins Invalid today is looking at our years, what we put out and what impact it has and now looking forward to our upcoming documentary to reach a more larger audience stamping our mark on the cultural/media framework with disability justice that we hope will disrupt the mainstream and even liberal communty, what they live, think, write about art, politics and other topics with a disability justice pen.
In looking over the website, I saw the Kickstarter from 2012 to finish a Sins Invalid film. I also noticed videos from this past summer about a film being streamed all over the world. I was wondering if these were the same film? For two years in the Summer our interns with Patty Berne successfully implemented what we called web streaming one full show because Sins Invalid annual show happens in San Francisco and our Sins community because of our outreach, internet social networks, college gigs and artists has become international throughout the years. With Web streaming more of our Sins Invalid community including our brother and sister who are in nursing homes, group homes, who have environmental disabilities and others can view our annual show and have a rich conversation with Patty Berne and Sins Invalid’s crew. The clips that we show in our web streaming might or might not be in our upcoming documentary but we can’t let the cat out the bag.
Photos from Sins Invalid website
Could you tell me more about the film that was being put together for distribution? The documentary, Sins, is almost done. Sins in my view it is much more than our annual show for me it’s about people/artists/activists with intersectional identities revealing our politics, stories, histories through cultural expressions and sharp interviews speaking to the world about reality of many people who don’t get the bling bling of this reality media that has spilled into every section of what we digest everyday from school to 9 to 5 cycle to cultural/art that is handed down by corporations. We will be hitting some film festivals, colleges and universities throughout the country. The artists/activists in Sins comes from the Bay Area, around the US and London, UK. There are so many to name but know one thing these artists are more than beautiful their social justice song, dance and color will make you think, laugh, cry, sing along, dance and paint the community you want to live in. Wait for it, it will be worth it! The music and visuals in Sins flows like rivers quashing your thirst and leaving you wanting more. Many have helped in filming, storyline, sound and editing but Patty Berne’s talents show so brightly like it does on stage as the director of Sins Invalid and producer of this documentary. Patty makes everything gorgeous with deep and critical meaning that leaves the brain thinking constantly. I feel Sins, the documentary, is what many are living with their own inner spotlight that we hope will grow to show all of us.
I am also curious about what is currently in the works with Sins Invalid. Is there a performance project scheduled for 2013? If so, please tell me about it. I watched some videos of performance excerpts, and wanted to know how the shows are put together. After a call is put out for performers, then what happens? How do you get from a call for performers to the finished performance on stage? For 2013 it’s all about the documentary and community education workshops and collaborations. We are in the middle of planning to release the documentary with an event around the documentary. We right now are looking at the calendar, drum roll please! Check back on our website at www.sinsinvalid.org for dates/venue/times. So far we are making the documentary a main focus of our annual show this year with some spoken word, low key performances like original songs and poetry from some of Sins Invalid artists then showing the documentary for the first time publicly in San Francisco. This year is totally different for us because of the film so this year we have picked some artists that are in the film to perform like Nomy Lamm has teamed up with myself to bring some of my original songs to the stage with her arrangement and slamming accordion playing. Nomy will do some of her original songs (They are smoking). We will also have Maria Palacios from Houston, TX and Bay Area artist/poet, Seeley Quest will perform their poetry/ songs but we can’t let the whole cat out the bag, meow hahaha. Everybody come to San Francisco or invite us to your city. Usually how our annual show happens takes a whole year to plan and implement with the artistic and administrative work of Patty Berne, I help in outreach getting new artists, looking at venues etc. Sins volunteers, interns, public relation person, tech people all have their parts in the beauty of the show before the curtains go up all constructed by Patty Berne. There are many hands in the Sins Invalid’s annual show’s pot also including our talented advisor board but Patty is once again the visionary and main designer and implementer, writer of what you see at show time from what is on stage to what artists are eating, wearing backstage to the lights and sound to the media coverage. Did I mention Patty Berne is unbelievable? The performances look stunning. I hope to see one some day. I enjoyed watching the videos tremendously. I have one more question. How has being a Co-Founder of Sins Invalid changed you as an artist and activist? Drastically! It made me really look at my privilege as a straight man and also gave me a huge playground to grow some of my artistic seeds and as the community relation director it expanded my knowledge of art/activism from around the world that are led by people of color and people who are LGBTQ of color. I consistently learn from my friend and co-worker, Patty Berne and through the years she has sprinkled her love, skills and deep knowledge on others and me in Sins Invalid.
Thank you to Leroy and Sins Invalid. For more information and to watch video clips from past performances, go to their website:
www.sinsinvalid.org
Mike Brummer
untitled
ink and paper, 2012 8.5� x 11�
Bruised & Battered by Cicely Ames
My heart shatters into a million little pieces, Picked off one by one, I lost some one, I lost myself, my heart is broken, Attached to my heart is a love note with a dragonfly. It gives me courage to go on and be strong. Even when torched with pain, I scream “stop,” but no one listen’s My voice gets louder, until I can’t take it anymore.
Arthaya Nootecharas
Greyhound wants the dead bird pen and markers on paper, 2012 12�x15�
Seth Fitzpatrick
Transcending Blue screenprint 62” x 22”
Michael LeVell
Untitled, 2012
acrylic & pencil on paper 24” x 18”
QF / Issue #3
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