Zines are miniature magazines filled with images and text, usually trying to spread some kind of message. They’re a small-circulation of self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via a copy machine. Zines are the product of either a single person or of a very small group, and are popularly photocopied into physical prints for circulation.
The difference between magazines and zines is that magazines are often produced by publishing companies and zines are self published. Magazines also focus on selling advertising space and making a profit, whilst zines are mainly created for spreading bold, strong, revolutionary ideas.
photo-zine
other zines
History of zines:
Zines were first created in the science fiction fandoms in the 1930s and they were names “fanzines” which means fan magazines. Before the internet, zines allowed fans to create networks, share ideas and analyses, and collaborate on writing and artwork. The very first zine dates back to May of 1930 in the USA. A little publication called The Comet was first created by the Science Correspondence Club. The letter section of the zine was a prominent feature, where fans discussed science as well as science fiction.
I like the similarity of the images in this zine and the way they are placed on to the page
For my project I will be creating a photo zine with little to no text because I want the main focus of the zine to be the images inside of it. I will be using mostly black and white images because I feel like he colour will take the meaning away and because it looks neater that way. I will juxta position my images with photographs from the Societe Jersiaise because I want to show contrast of how things were back then and now.
This is a page from the zine “La Cotte de Saint-Brelade at work 1910-2019” which shows a juxta position with a finding from La Cotte in the 1910 (left) and Le Cotte in 2019(right).
These are examples of photo-zines made by student on the occupation
I like the simplicity of some of these covers that have a simple image with a short line of text. This is because it’s not complicated and it gets straight to the point and doesn’t distract you from the rest of the zine.
How do archives function as repositories of knowledge?
Photo archives
Archives preserve information from around the globe, like records of an individual’s personal life, and keep it safe for generations. They come in all sorts of forms from government documents to letters and paintings. Archives are very important because they usually hold a lot of important information about a certain culture which helps historians and helps us remember where we came from. In this essay I will be mostly talking about photo-archives, which are records of time in the form of photographs, as well as the Societe Jersiaise Photographic Archive. I’ll also talk about to what extent archives function as repositories of knowledge, which refers to the way the data is kept and organised in order to be used by more people.
Believe it or not, we all have our own private photo-archives because of our mobile phones and family albums, birth certificates etc. The camera roll in our phones can keep safe thousands of images taken all around the world and in different years. Everyday people take hundreds of images without realising they’re creating an archive of moments frozen in time. When we decide to post those images on social media platform, we also create another archive as those pictures are now displayed elsewhere and preserved.
A photo archive from Societe Jersiaise
Societe Jersiaise, also known as the ‘Jersey Society’, was formed in 1873 by a small group of islanders that were interested in the island, the number then grew as more people became aware of this group. Their aim was to create a museum and a library, but at their second Annual Repost their attention was drawn to the importance of ‘Recording in permanent photography local prehistoric monuments, buildings and ruins’, this was because at the time photography had become quite a popular medium. The practice and collecting of photography became one of their priorities and that’s when they started putting photographs in the museum and library, which led to the photographic archive we have today. The photographic archive has now of over 125,000 images dating back to mid-1840s to the present day; 30,000 of these archives are available online on their website for people to see and purchase. The Island of Jersey has rich history of photographic practice as a territory geographically and culturally positioned between Britain and France, two nations that were prominent in the development the medium of photography. The society also has a library which gives access to the people living on the island to learn more about Jersey history, identity and geography. This library is a good tool for islander and visitors from across the world to learn more about Jersey culture and even their own heritage as these archives tend to have Jersey family trees as well.
A typical Mullins family portrait
Mullins opened his Royal Square studio in 1848. This advert was from 1852
Henry Mullins (1818-1880) is a very important Jersey photographer from the mid-nineteenth century. He is most known for producing thousands of portrait photographs of the Jersey islanders between 1848 and 1873 at his highly successful studio that was located in the Royal Square, St. Helier. Before arriving to the Channel Islands, Mullins was part of the circle of pioneers at the Royal Polytechnic Institute in London where the first photographic studio in Europe was opened in 1841. In the summer of 1847 Mullins arrived in Guernsey and a year later he settled in Jersey where he stayed until the end of his life. Many photographic studios had opened in the 50s and 60s, but Mullins continued to be the photographer of choice for members of the Jersey Society and local and immigrant families. This shows that his work was really good at his job and that he is a very important individual when it comes to Jersey history and the archives of the island. Today there are 9,861 images Henry Mullins has taken in jersey that are available to view online on the Societe Jersiaise website.
A technique he used to use is called the “multi-portrait” and it’s where he would use 4 different portraits and arrange them almost in the shape of a diamond. This image shows the same woman being photographed from 4 different angles. The top image is her looking straight at the camera, on the left you see her facing left just like how on the right she seen to be looking to the right, then the bottom image is her looking left again but her head is not as tilted as in the other images, and you can see both sides of her face.
In conclusion, I think archives, especially photo archives, are really helpful to make us understand more about the island’s culture and history. Photographs are very helpful because they allow us to clearly see what was happening at the time and compare different time periods with each other. The way they are stored, e.g. public libraries, makes them very accessible to everyone who wants to gain more knowledge an understanding of a specific time period and culture. I think the archives will help me with my own work as I will be able to visibly see more about the islands heritage and learn about how people used to live at the time. The Jersey archives are also really good at showing us the islands geology and geography which works well with our current project called “My Rock”.
Map of Jersey with the 5 places I’m going to be exploring in my zine. Gorey, La Motte, La Cotte/Portlet, L’Etacq and Plemont (clockwise starting at 3’oclock)
STORY: What is your story?
Describe in:
3 words: island rocks different
A sentence: Different types of rocks across the island of Jersey.
A paragraph: In my zine I will be looking at 5 different locations around Jersey and explore the different types of rocks you can find. I will also be comparing my images to the ones from Societe Jersiaise and look at how much or how little the geography or geology of the island has change through out the years.
NARRATIVE: How will you tell your story?
Images > new photographic responses, photo-shoots of objects…
Archives > images from SJ photo-archive, found imagery…
Texts > experiment with typography, key words, poems…
