Zines for Adolescents with Anxiety
· Sometimes a solo activity, but with the intention to share- the expression of ideas is an important aspect
· Mix of words and images
· Format open to many different processes
· At some point cognitive level planning
· Honest
· Justice
· Do it yourself, punk, self-publish,
· Social stories social action
· Youth, underdog, overlooked
· Reframing, reclaiming
· Cut and paste, often graphic sensibility
· Portable art-making, and allows for flexibility, or change in content and ideas
Zines have been the domain of adolescents and young adults for a long while. I think a group of teens experiencing anxiety could benefit from working on a zine together. As Mageary (2020) wrote, zines can provide a connection and a sense of agency for adolescents. Skill sharing, creating personal content, and participation make zines powerful tools. Reflective distance is often provided by the borders of the page lending this activity a perceptual component. Within the group, negotiations would take place: discussions about content, who is doing what task, the size and number of pages, and what goes on the cover. It would be a Do-it together situation. For those who are less artistic, writing is an option, even distribution is part of the collaboration. The quick, fluid, slapdash, sometimes brash style of zines may be therapeutic for adolescents who feel bogged down by anxiety. Depending on the therapeutic needs of the participants, various materials and media may be suggested. Collage and cut-up or black-out poetry may be good starting points. A how-to, comic, exposé, personal essay, self-portrait, photographic essay, all could find a place in a zine.
Within the container of the page, one can push up to the edges, and be contained. You can reorganize the order of the pages, to change the narrative. You can create secret stories hidden by flaps or on the underside of the book folded from one piece of paper. The zine can be a mash-up of words and images. It lends itself to spontaneity, self-expression, and social action. The zine doesn’t need to be polished, it is approachable for the maker and viewer alike. Most important, the zine is a flexible and responsive format which can be a container for chaotic thoughts and feelings.
When making my zine page I used a ballpoint pen that was running out of ink as a metaphor for how I was feeling exhausted. Like I just don’t know how to get the words out anymore, but also that I am not sure who is listening without the face to face contact. Then I took my image and did a bit of scanography play with a colander. Then I layered the two images in photoshop. When I was an adolescent making zines computers were not part of the art-making process. I wanted to include the computer as an interface in this zine page because it feels like a huge part of my life right now and is tied into my feeling of being exhausted and at times unseen/unheard.
References
Mageary, J. (2020). Zines, DIY, empowering marginalized identities. In Leone, L. (Ed.), Craft in Art Therapy: Diverse Approaches to the Transformative Power of Craft Materials and Methods, (pp 177-189). Routledge
