Slow Down and Look at the Stars: A Zine of Hope, Joy, and Mundanity

From the curator:

Slow Down and Look at the Stars centers hope, joy, and mundanity in the lives of queer and disabled folks in Malaysia. Living in a country where these groups face bigotry and barriers to access resources, Farid and the Velorum Collective remind us that creating spaces for joy is a crucial form of resistance. This newfound community gathered online to produce a 26-page zine in English and Bahasa Melayu, combining comics, poetry, prose, illustration, and collage.

From the storyteller:

Zines have been and will continue to be an accessible medium for people in the margins to share ideas and connect with one another. Armed with nothing more than paper and a message, one could make a zine that can be produced and distributed at minimal cost beyond centralised platforms and approved channels.

Through Libraries of Resistance funding, our collective ran the first of many zine-making workshops to come, reaching out particularly to other young marginalised people. For some of us, this was the first time we’d worked with other queer creators on such a scale. We learned that it’s okay to ask for help and support, to centre our needs, and that acts of creation bring people together. We also hope that the zine can be of help to queer and disabled readers, whether through the resources listed within or through our stories and artworks sparking inspiration.