INTRODUCTION

This zine was the brainchild of a Philly artist who wandered into an open mic one Friday night. As she watched poets, singers, musicians, and comedians take the stage, she noticed they all had something in common: a deeply human way of connecting that resonated with the audience. She wished that as a visual artist she could do the same thing these people did—that somehow, she could record the same fleeting qualities of a live performance in an image people could hold onto forever.

Collide Zine is just that, but with a twist. It offers a space for artists and writers to collaborate by pairing them together. Each spread you see in this zine is a set of one writer, one artist. Together the two collaborate to create new work or keep their submission as is.

We hope this zine is as fun to read as it is to create. Special thanks to Lightbox Café in Queen Village for the open mics that inspired this project, and Walls for Justice for sponsoring our now fourth edition of this project. Some of the artists in this issue were refreshingly vulnerable, sharing stories of childhood trauma, deep loss, and heartbreak—we want to thank all of them for sharing these uncomfortable experiences in a zine format.

With the debut of Collide 4, we are continuing our initiative with Walls for Justice to host free events, workshops, and open mics for artists and writers to attend and enjoy bonding experiences with Philly’s thriving art and poetry community. To stay up to date on all our events, sign up for the Walls for Justice newsletter online at www.wallsforjustice.org

A new issue of the zine will debut quarterly and will be distributed both online and in several Philly-based bookstores. The best way to support us is by following our Instagram and subscribing to our Patreon! The more people hear about this, the more submissions we can get for upcoming issues. Collide is open to all mediums of creation, and all subject matters. We want to bring artists together in a way that is not overly curated or exclusive.