Of Trash

Of Trash is a 16 page full-color collage art zine that takes the reader through a changing visual dreamscape.

Of Trash spans from the ethereal to mundane horror. Falling in & out of waking dreams, reality, nightmares, meditative states, & whimsy, come along for a visual adventure.

This zine itself is full of whimsy & magical surrealism; it's not very serious. Ideally I want you to interpret the images with whatever comes up for you. This zine is a visual dreamscape bereft of my political rantings, but I figure I'll add more context since here's a description section to explain about myself, where I'm coming from, & try to connect where I guess my compulsion to connect this imagery possibly arose.

We are always traveling through where we are, what we long for, future plans, emotions, uncertainty, awe, deep fears, & wonder. There's a true need to connect who we are with who we want to be, yet it's so easy for me to try to fill holes in my life with tiny trinkets.

How we live impacts how we dream. 

When asked about if they thought the dog was dreaming of chasing rabbits, Lloyd in Barbara Kingsolver's novel Animal Dreams says "Your dreams, what you hope for and all that, it's not separate from your life. It grows right up out of it... If you want sweet dreams, you've got to live a sweet life."

As a dumpster diver, I can't help seeing our culture as trash archeologist, examining the impact of mass production, rapid-fire consumerism, & what it all means. Designer handbags are created as much  from oil & gas companies' waste products to the rich celebrity fantasy illusions that have been peddled upon us. Looking at the bones I wonder: who all this stuff is made for, who buys it, where will it end up, who makes it, and what our lives are like?

“Sometimes I still have American dreams. I mean literally. I see microwave ovens and exercise machines and grocery store shelves with 30 brands of shampoo, and I look at these things oddly, in my dream. I stand and think, "What is all this for? What is the hunger that drives this need?" (Hallie, also from Kingslover's Animal Dreams)

I fear that in a culture with large systems designed to waste on such an epic scale, failing to create lasting crafts(person)ship, we too are wasting.  Will we fulfill our dreams? Or are we grasping at illusions?

When I stop to look at myself, I sometimes find I'm not actually reaching for what I want. I'm trying to buy into some idea of a thing without getting a product that comes close to meeting those dreams. I want queer liberation, not rainbow capitalism. I'm lonely, but I don't want to assimilate. I crave community. I'm tired and scared, but I don't want to settle. I'm hungry & seeking substance. With courage maybe I'll be able to fill the voids with  sweet adventures, nature, mediation, community, enjoying tea & friendship. Here's to hoping we all build towards the world we want.

Times Magazine's  issue, On Trash, supplied a considerable substance of imagery to this narrative. Although mostly about dreams, Of Trash touches ground into reality & trash culture down to the repurposing of magazines delivered from long past tenants; I am a passionate trash critter. I encourage people to advocate banning plastic. I appreciate articles like: "Reduce, reuse, redirect outrage: How plastic makers used recycling as a fig leaf  from NPR" ; "ExxonMobil wants you to feel responsible for climate change so it doesn’t have to" from Vox, ;"Just 100 companies responsible for 71% of global emissions, study says" from The Guardian. Exxon has been running very expensive propaganda campaigns to shift climate crisis blames away from industries onto individuals so we can feel bad & in-fight over the personal responsibility of recycling. Plastic is a byproduct from oil & gas companies that leaches toxins regardless of BPA. Recycling is incredibly ineffective & a tactic to divert from changing environmentally disastrous companies who put a great deal of their profits & energy towards dividing the people,  tricking us into buying their toxic trash, shaming us into feeling bad about ourselves, & tricking us into feeling responsible while they are exploiting the earth. I think it's radical to be gentle with ourselves, to be gentle with each other. It's super rad to form community amidst so much division. I hope we will be brave enough to envision & work towards the future we want. I hope we let go of some of the individualistic, dystopian doom-cult apocalypse fantasies in favor of something better.  We deserve to heal and have sweet dreams.

What's included:

(8 printed pages with 2 pages per page / 4 double sided pages)

(Digital Read Version - 16 pages)

I've included a numbered and unnumbered format. The print versions are designed to be printed in full-color on both sides of the paper stack all the pages and fold in half (The back cover & cover are on the same page with the last & first page on the back.) The numbered version is only kinda numbered because I minimally numbered the pages with safety pins representing the number of pages.

If you make art or music & want to trade something you've made pls feel free to send me a message (: