Index ➤ About

About Twenty Two Zines

Twenty Two Zines is a zine resource library, community zine collection and zine distro fostering radical creativity. 22Z is about free and accessible information, friendliness and inclusivity, and a philosophy of sharing over selling. 22Z shares eclectic zines about all topics with a special fondness for zines that are free or inexpensive and artists' first zines. My goal is to make the world of zines accessible for zine creators and zine readers at all stages--creating, printing, distribution & trading, and discovery. All our zines at art and zine fairs are offered free or pay-what-you-can!

Twenty Two Zines is run by me, Wesley (he/she), a trans zinester, librarian and artist in occupied Naumkeag/Salem, Mass. I am a goth flower child, too punk to be a hippie and too optimistic to be goth. I love making art with heavy black ink, high contrast, obnoxious patterns, animal motifs, and anything with cool images I can get for free.

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Currently: unemployed :)
Listening to: Paper Towels -- Jack Stauber
Reading: The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power -- Dierdre Mask
Making: "Hey Babe", a diary zine
Watching: Daria
Playing: Crossword puzzles

A Creative Manifesto

ART IS FREE!

ART IS FOR HUMANS NOT ALGORITHMS!

The drive to share is human. The drive to sell is capitalism.
The desire to express is human. The desire to hustle is capitalism.

SHARING NOT SELLING!

Share whenever possible! Art can’t be felt through the kaleidoscopic veil of storefronts and advertising.
Trust that art will reach those who need it. Heart is creation, not distribution.
Make for the sake of your self. Share for the sake of ART and COMMUNITY.
You are granting others the privilege of witnessing you. Not for the tastes of others, or the tastes of their wallets!

ART IS MAGIC.

You cannot prove its power but you can see it. You cannot see its power but you can feel it.

ARTISTS ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN THE IMMORTAL GODS.

Not even the gods can create something that outlasts them.

ART IS EXPERIMENTAL.

I do not need a style people can label and sell. I transcend the limitations of my past creations!
Art needs to take up space. There is no such thing as too much art! Art needs FRIENDS!

ART IS LOVE NOT PROFIT.

ART IS CREATION NOT CONSUMPTION.

Artists deserve money because with it they are free to create, NOT because their work has monetary value. Monetary value is fake; Art’s value is real.
Remember the paralysis of business-driven art well enough that you will never feel it again. Keep the separation between earning and creation sacred!

ART IS FREE!

Inspired by "the WHY CHEAP ART? manifesto" (1984) from Bread & Puppet Theatre:

Fun Things

coming soon!