13th August, Wednesday3:30 pm – 5:30 pm, Venue: Create,
The Reading Room, 2 Curved Street, Dublin D02 PC43
On 13 August, from 3:30 pm – 5:30 pm, Queer Asian Pride Ireland, together with artist Pradeep Mahadeshwar, will host “Queers Beyond Borders”, a zine-making workshop for QPoC and allies at The Reading Room, Create. The workshop invites queer immigrants and their friends to come together, share stories, and build community through the radical act of self-publishing.
Why Zines?
A zine (short for fanzine or magazine) is a self-published, small-circulation booklet, usually made by hand, photocopied, and distributed outside mainstream publishing channels. Born from underground press movements of the 1960s and ’70s — from Vietnam War protests and feminist collectives to queer liberation and punk rock — zines have long been a tool for resistance, visibility, and cultural exchange.
Though blogs, PDFs, and online communities changed the publishing landscape in the 2000s, zines never disappeared. Instead, they adapted. Today, the tactile intimacy of a handmade zine continues to matter: they resist algorithms, democratize publishing, and leave behind tangible traces of subcultures that might otherwise be erased. Queer zine libraries, archives, and festivals — from the Queer Zine Archive Project in the US to countless grassroots initiatives worldwide — show just how enduring and transformative this medium remains.
Why This Workshop?
For queer immigrants in Ireland, zines offer a chance to tell our own stories in our own words and images — to move beyond borders of nationality, culture, and mainstream representation. This workshop is not about professional design or polished art. It’s about expression, experimentation, and connection.
You don’t need an art background. Just bring your ideas, curiosity, and a willingness to create.
This workshop is for you if you are:
- Passionate about LGBTQIA+ rights and social justice
- Interested in storytelling and advocacy
- Committed to intersectional approaches
- 18+ years old
A Collective Act
Through zine-making, we honour traditions of underground queer publishing while creating something new: a space where queer immigrants and allies can meet, collaborate, and leave behind tangible artifacts of our lives, loves, and struggles.
Queers Beyond Borders is more than a workshop — it is an act of community building, a gesture of resistance, and an invitation to imagine together.
This workshop is designed especially for individuals who may not see themselves as artists or come from a creative background. The aim is simple: to bring Queer People of Colour (QPoC) together and nurture creativity as a tool for connection and community.
For this session, I am drawing from my personal collection of activism posters spanning the 1980s to 2025. By recycling and reimagining these posters, we honour the activism ancestors who shaped the world we live in today — keeping their spirit alive while creating something new together.
