Artists Self Publishing
Self-publishing can serve as a tool for activism and political possibilities, disseminating countercultural ideas to a large audience. Artists and activists have utilised self-publishing to access alternative channels to educate and inform, while empowering those who seek nonconformist narratives and see a gap in public space and representation.
This 3-part series of presentations and discussions will be co-hosted with Iona Gibson, who is deeply rooted in the zine community having established a digital archive of over 1,500 zines on DeZiners, facilitated zine-making workshops across the UK via the Cut Out Club and co-founded the Highland Zine Bothy in Inverness last year.
Part 1: Wednesday 5th February, 11am - 12:30pm
This session features presentations from independent publishers Cj Reay from Black Lodge Press and Rosie’s Disobedient Press. Cj Reay is a Cumbrian artist currently living in Yorkshire. For the past 10 years he has run Black Lodge Press – a publishing press and print project combining punk zines, risograph printing and radical politics. Rosie’s Disobedient Press is an artist-led publishing project based in Glasgow which centres on writing from marginalised perspectives with a focus on queer, working class and feminist writers. The press is run by Lisette May Monroe and Adrien Howard and works directly with artists and writers to create unique projects on a small scale and across multiple forms.
Part 2: Wednesday 12th February, 11am - 12:30pm
This session will explore different production methods and distribution with Good Press alongside Ainslie Roddick and Katharine Barrington from ATLAS Arts who will talk about the inspirations for setting up the Making Publics Press - including Publication Studio Glasgow, a similar project Ainslie co-founded at CCA Glasgow - and how the press has developed over the last five years.
Good Press a workers cooperative in Glasgow dedicated to the promotion, distribution and production of independent or self published printed matter alongside their Sunday’s Print Service project.
The Making Publics Press is a mobile book making studio, with all the equipment needed to design, print, bind and trim your own books and publications. It supports the making of small runs of creative book projects, quickly and cheaply – getting books out into the world and across Skye, Raasay and Lochalsh. The press focuses on conversation and community building through publishing - focusing on what happens in the process of making a book, as much as the book itself. The equipment can be packed in a car and borrowed, and in 2025 will be going out and about 'on residency' to spend longer periods with folk across the Highlands and Islands who want to use it.
Part 3: Wednesday 19th February, 11am - 12:30pm
In this final session we will explore activist archives and inclusive spaces within self publishing with Chris from Glasgow Zine Library alongside artist Jacob Hoffman who initiated the PUBLIC LIBRARY project in Edinburgh’s Dissenter Space.
Glasgow Zine Library is a community space, zine archive and self-publishing charity, based in Govanhill, Glasgow, established in 2018. They are the largest independent zine library in the UK, with a growing international collection of over 3,500 zines (self-published magazines). GZL also hosts a blended online/offline programme of workshops, professional and artistic development opportunities, community meals, film screenings, discussion groups, reading groups, children’s arts and crafts, social clubs, heritage activities and more. GZL also hosts Glasgow Zine Fest, an annual celebration of DIY culture.
PUBLIC LIBRARY is a research project and collaborative arts programme established in 2023. It grew out of a collaboration with the Dissenter for Space Studies, a community art space led by curator Claire Feeley. The project began out of thinking into the archive, and of libraries and public space, their function in society and the significance they may hold for us. The library has grown through conversation and collaboration, and is intended to be an alternative space for thinking and sharing.
To Book
This session is funded by Scottish Union Learning and we need you to complete these two forms in advance - please note you need to input the course name 'Artists Self-Publishing' and the reference number H145.
We will circulate a Zoom meeting link on the Tuesday 4th February, so please don't worry if you haven't receive any notification before then.
Artwork by Cj Reay, Black Lodge Press, 2025