On 11th November 2023 the project team organised the public event 'Make Your Own Zine Inspired by DRUM Magazine' as part of the Being Human Festival 2023. Ours was one of a series of four events grouped under the title 'The Anthropozine: Being Human in the Age of Zines', which was led by Dr Emma Barnes at the University of Salford.

 

For our event, we invited members of the public to join us in the Zine Maker Space at the Clifford Whitworth Library to create zines inspired by South Africa's pioneering DRUM Magazine of the 1950s and 1960s. Festivalgoers were provided with an introduction to the history of zines and zine making by librarian and zinester Reis Tobolski, and an introduction to the background and importance of DRUM Magazine by Professor Jade Munslow Ong.

 

Many of the zines created by workshop participants engaged directly with the art, photography, journalism and fiction published in DRUM. Of particular interest were the images and articles featuring political leaders such as Steve Biko and Kwame Nkrumah, female representation in the magazine, and Casey Motsisi's Bug series. Other participants pursued their own interests, producing various collaged zines with colourful aesthetics, mini-zines, and feminist zines about women in Iran, female celebrities and the press, and women and crime. At the end of the event, festivalgoers donated photocopies of their zines to the free vending machZine and/or hid their creations in relevant books around the library for others to find. 

 

We are delighted to present some images of the event and zines below, with the kind permission from participants.

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We would like to thank the Being Human Festival team, AHRC and British Academy for funding the event, and Reis Tobolski and Alex Mitchell at the Clifford Whitworth Library for their advice and support. Photography by Maham Safdar, Ariij Asif and Charif Assad.