Then we give time for people to make collages, maybe write something. And after that, we collect everything and put it into one zine. Which is then printed and copies are given to the participants.
It’s important that during these workshops we bring a lot of materials to make collages because it also gives new opportunities to people who fear that they cannot draw or that they cannot paint, that they are not talented enough.
Sometimes we don’t do one big zine, we instead teach our participants how to make a small zine from one A4 piece of paper. You stick things together, you cut it one way and then you will have an easy, small zine. That way each participant leaves the workshop with their own object about their own topic.
It gives them the message that they are able to make this. It really gives you the sense of being able to create something in such little time. It’s only your first time and you already have your own fanzine.
David – There’s something I found funny on your website is that the cursor is a small scissor. My instinct would have been to put a pen because you could think it’s a tool you use to write…
Agata – It’s a funny story (she laughs). It’s because when you make zines, you cut some things for the collages. It’s also a symbol of the deconstruction of things before you create something new.
And we thought it’s a funny way to address lesbian culture because of scissoring. We just wanted a funny cursor.
David – We mentioned Riot Grrrl as an inspiration, however the diary aspect of the zine makes me think of another media: Rookie an online media intended for American teenagers and created by journalist Tavi Gevinson. Is it a publication you’re also interested in?
Agata – Ola and I were very passionate about Rookie magazine. For our first zine, most of the works were collected during this event with the girls from Rookie in Warsaw. We didn’t have such a thing in Poland, so we were obsessively reading Rookie.
However, they were an online platform, which I think was important for teenage girls in America. We were amazed that they have this platform made for them and that we don’t have the same for teenage girls in Poland.
Now I love that we can share that experience with the girls that are there and they can already be on the right path before focusing on growing up, which is a terrible idea
As teenage girls, we had more detrimental than valuable sources of knowledge, and they were usually written by older people. Rookie, on the opposite, was a platform made by young girls, for young girls. We wanted to see how the same thing would look in Poland.
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Obviously we love their aesthetic, but it was rooted in American culture. You had proms, balls and everything. We don’t have such things in Poland. So obviously, a Rookie magazine made in our environment would look like something else.
David – I see, so in a way, when you were reading Rookie, you also wanted to be able to read something made by polish teenage girls, for polish teenage girls. Do you have younger people contributing to your fanzine?
Agata – Actually now we have younger and younger girls contributing to our zine and we love that because I remember being that age and I knew nothing about experiences of other young girls
I was just focused on being older than I was. I wanted to be older and never really valued the time I had as a teenager.