With more than 60 zine publishers scheduled and the usual draw of
hundreds, organizers of the 7th annual DC Zinefest anticipate a steadily
growing gathering of independent publishers and enthusiasts. Yet the
event retains its comfort as a haven for diversity, acceptance, and
inspired ideas, where free speech and safer spaces categorically
co-exist.
Because of these basic values, the zine community,
almost by default, emphatically supports countless individuals who might
not otherwise have a means of expressing themselves, whether it’s by
granting stipends to encourage underrepresented artists and writers to
publish or by personally connecting through ideas and action.
Panel
discussions also provide a basis for meaningful discussion, and this
year’s topics echo recurrent and ever-urgent themes of art and activism
and issues relevant to people of color.
During the day-long
festival, catch the midday panel “Discourses of
Color in Self-Publishing”. Moderated by New York-based artist, writer,
and publisher, Andy Wentz, the panel hosts guest presenters including
the New-York based American Artist, medical anthropologist and zine
publisher Tanvi Avasthi, and tireless activist Dennis Shah of the
legendary Positive Force DC.
From 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., meet
moderator C.S. Malerich, writer and founding member of DC Stampede, a
collective for activists and organizers on behalf of animals, people,
and the planet. Malerich’s guest panelists include Baltimore based
spoken-word artist Blu The Poet, visual artist Malika Bryant,
illustrator and comic artist Evan Keeling, musician and artist Simoné A.
Speed, and socio-political feminist artist Lisa Marie Thalhammer.
I. DISCOURSES OF COLOR IN SELF-PUBLISHING
Time 12:00–1:00 p.m.
Moderator
ANDY
WENTZ is an artist, writer, and publisher, originally from the
Chicagoland area. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, focusing on
both independent and collaborative creative projects. He hopes to own a
pet of his own one day but will dote on his plant babies for the time
being. Website:
andywentz.com
Panelists
AMERICAN
ARTIST is an interdisciplinary artist who makes texts, videos, and
installations about culture and technology and the power structures
embedded within them. American Artist’s legal name change serves as the
basis of an ambivalent practice—one of declaration: by insisting on the
visibility of blackness as descriptive of an American artist, and
erasure: anonymity in virtual spaces where “American Artist” is an
anonymous name, unable to be googled or validated by a computer as a
person’s name. American attended the Whitney Independent Study program
as an artist. They have exhibited at the Kitchen, New York, and have
participated in group shows internationally. They have published writing
in The New Inquiry and New Criticals and have had work featured in
Huffington Post, Dazed Digital, Nylon, and PAPER. Website:
https://americanartist.us
TANVI
AVASTHI is a medical anthropologist and nursing student whose joy for
self-care comes through her yoga practice. Her research interests are
the intersections of race, gender, east, and west. Tanvi's goals are to
make the healing experience equitable and just for all people and to add
humanity to healthcare providers for better care. She will complete her
Master's of Science in Nursing in May 2018.
DENIS SHAH is a
straightedge activist here in DC, working with different organizations
in various capacities. His main thrust over the past 12 months has been
Positive Force DC: modernizing, evangelizing, and ultimately, guiding
others to set up their own PF chapters elsewhere. Dennis is particularly
interested in movement building and understanding how leverage
technology and tools to create a disciplined, effective force for
change. He also believes in Joey Shithead's maxim: TALK - ACTION = 0.
II. ARTS AND ACTIVISM
Time: 1:30–2:30 p.m.
Moderator
C.S.
MALERICH lives and works near the District of Columbia. Her
speculative fiction has appeared previously in Ares Magazine, The Again,
and the Among Animals anthologies from Ashland Creek Press — a
publisher of eco fiction. "Phoenix Cross," her contribution to Among
Animals 2, was nominated for a 2017 Pushcart Prize. Most recently, her
short story "It Wants to be a Swamp" appeared in the Mother's Revenge
anthology from Scary Dairy Press, to raise funds for environmental
causes. An avid fan of skillful drawing (which she can't do), she
collaborates with artist-storyteller J. Hollister Conroy on an ongoing
series of comic zines. C.S. is part of local writers' group, the
Speculative Wordsmiths, and a founding member of DC Stampede, a
collective for activists and organizers on behalf of animals, people,
and the planet.
Panelists
BLU THE POET is an
up-and-coming poet who hails from Baltimore, Maryland. Not only is she a
Spoken Word artist, but she uses her craft in part as a Motivational
Speaker to help inspire and educate young African Americans. As a
supporter of the Pan-African movement, she also utilizes her platform to
aid in the unification of the black community. As she often says, "I
am an advocate for love first and black love second." With gifts
provided by the Creator, her overall mission is to help increase
awareness of Black Pride, Black Love, and Black Unity. If you would like
to keep in touch with Blu, feel free to follow her on social media
sites, such as Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter, at BluThePoet.
For booking information, please contact her at 1bluthepoet@gmail.com.
MALIKA
BRYANT discovered her love of art at the age of four. "I remember the
electrifying feeling I had when I dipped my hands in paint, and so the
love of art began. I became an Artist because this is what the Creator
placed me here to be. I am just as passionate about being a Visual
Artist as I am about teaching it to budding art students." Malika
brings art to children and adults across the DC metro area as a charter
school teacher in DC, an instructor with the Arts on a Roll program
through Prince George’s Parks & Rec Department, and an art
teacher working with seniors at Gwendolyn Brit Senior Center. In the
summer, she is a teaching artist with Summer Camp and No School Day Camp
at CREATE Arts Center in Silver Spring.
Her artwork focuses
mainly on woman of color. She works with a wide variety of materials,
focusing mostly on with dry mediums like pastels, graphite pencils and
conté crayons. In 2012, Malika became the first recipient of the Gerald
King Fine Art Study Award and apprenticeship, where she continued to
hone her craft. As a resident of the Hyattsville Arts District, and a
member of the Hyattsville Community Arts Alliance, her work can be
viewed in a number of venues in the Arts District. Her artwork, handmade
greeting cards, and gourd purses are sold in shops throughout the DC
area and online at
www.southafricanbazaarcraftcooperative.com.
Malika
is currently working on a collage of "Maat" the Kemetic (Egyptian)
Goddess, and will be traveling to Egypt this August with renowned
historian Anthony Browder’s 22nd Annual "Ancient Egypt: Light of the
World" study tour.
EVAN KEELING, born and raised in
Washington, DC, received a BFA in graphic design from the Corcoran
College of Art + Design, and for the last 12 years, has been an exhibit
specialist in graphics at the Smithsonian Exhibits.
Evan is also
an accomplished illustrator who has worked with a variety of clients. He
is a founding member of the DC Conspiracy a collective of Washington,
DC area comic book artists and writers. He has been published and
self-publishes comic books for print and for the web.
He is
developing comic book-based programing as well as creating mini-comics
for the Smithsonian as well as working with the International Indigenous
Youth Council documenting their experiences during the protest at
Standing Rock for websites and free zine-comic formats.
His work and downloads for the Smithsonian and IIYC comics can be found at
etkeeling.tumblr.com.
http://etkeeling.tumblr.com
http://www.dcconspiracy.com
SIMONÉ
A SPEED has always had a passion for the fine and performing arts. She
has performed with Eubie Blake National Jazz and Cultural Center, Muse
360 Arts, Baltimore Polytechnic Institute’s Floetic Lyricists Club,
Peabody’s Children’s Chorus, the Morgan State University Choir, Arena
Players, and her church choirs. Simoné has studied in the music program
at Morgan State University and is proud to be a Poly alumna from the
class of 2013. She is excited to be working with New Generation Scholars
this summer, which studies the African Diaspora, entrepreneurship, and
leadership. It also focuses on radical thought and empowerment of youth
through the arts and Black history. This program has established a sense
pride and the need for social and political change within Simoné. With
everything she does, she hopes to inspire youth to fight for equality,
justice and radical thought for the advancement of those oppressed.
LISA
MARIE THALHAMMER creates socio-political feminist paintings, collages,
and public murals using portraiture, color, and shape. Her mission is to
challenge traditional gender stereotypes by creating images that
empower women, LGBTQ peoples, and communities. With a goal to uplift
her subjects through visual representation, her works also raise the
consciousness of the viewer by challenging stereotypes and communicating
uplifting messages. Thalhammer’s works are striking and powerful
portrayals of herself and her friends. For Thalhammer, the personal is
political, and her private relationships and experiences become the
inspiration for public statements through the art-making process.
Figures with expressive eyes and angular limbs depict poses that convey a
tough femininity and progressive consciousness. Thru use of color and
symbolism, Lisa Marie Thalhammer’s artworks explore the
interconnectivity between all things.
Thalhammer is
currently a D.C. Commission on the Art and Humanities Fellow and Public
Art Building Communities grant recipient. She paints murals and exhibits
her work in Washington, D.C. where she lives and works, in addition to
places such as Vienna Austria, Detroit, Asbury Park, Indiana, L.A.,
Miami, and New York. Artnet News featured her 2009 “Boxer Girl” public
art mural controversy when the D.C. police reported that her work
decreased crime by 55%. The Washington Blade, the oldest LGBTQ newspaper
in the USA, featured Thalhammer on the cover of their “Top 30 Under 30”
issue in 2008 and nominated her Best Visual Artist in 2013. Her David
Wojnarowicz protest sign appeared on the cover of the New York Times
during the 2010 “Fire In My Belly” controversy, and she was pictured on
the cover of the Dubois County Herald painting her Ferdinand the Bull
mural in Indiana. The Washington Post Magazine September 2014 “Home and
Design Issue” cover featured Thalhammer in her 52 O Street Artist
Studio. Additionally, The Washington Post’s home page coverage of the
2017 Presidential Inauguration, highlighted Thalhammer’s “Strong Women
LOVE” parachute created for the Women’s March on Washington.
Thalhammer
was born in Florissant, Missouri, and grew up attending Catholic
all-girl schools while working at her family-owned St. Louis East Truck
Plaza. She studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and Staffordshire
University in England before graduating with honors from the University
of Kansas with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting. While in Kansas she
also received a Women Studies Minor with an art history concentration,
the Jacobs Prize, the Hollander Family Foundation Award and the Amsden
Award, Daniel Macmorris Scholarship and the Werner Ferguson Service
Scholarship. Lisa Marie Thalhammer has traveled to many places around
the world and lives in downtown Washington, DC, at the historic O Street
Artist Studios. She also teaches yoga regularly on Monday evenings at
FLOW yoga at 14th and P Street, N.W., Washington,DC.
2017 DC Zinefest
Saturday, July 15, 2017
10:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
St. Stephen and the Incarnation Church
1525 Newton St. N.W.
Washington, DC 20010
