WEEK5

ROOTS ZINE - NOTES

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ROOT ZINE

Roots that weave through our lives

Roots are the usually underground part of a seed plant body that originates usually from the hypocotyl, functions as an organ of absorption, aeration, and food storage or as a means of anchorage and support.

The shape is repeated across the universe

we all have them, if not physical ones then metaphysical/symbolic/metaphorical ones

they represent origins, stability, home, connections, realism and beginnings, being established, underground

the lack of roots, rootlessness, is a feeling of not belonging anywhere, floating
and the closest antonym is wings; freedom, transformation, independence, innocence (naïvety), in the sky

The deeper the root the greater the fruit <<<< are you saying my fruits are not great, ruthless?!

Root-themed songs

if the roots represent beginnings, wings symbolise a transformation.

Help me choose which route to take
you are ruthless

roots = where we come from
routes = where we go

Stories about roots, wings and home

stuck =/= rooting

maybe I have bonsai roots; cut several times, short but strong

Multicultural roots

My roots are split between two countries but simultaneously in neither
When i am in A I am not A enough when I am in B I am not B enough,
So in A I tell I am B and in B I tell I am A
Always being the outsider

home is where…

my mother is
I sleep that night
where friends are
cat
food
in the things that travel with me
where you feel comfortable

Where you come from now is much less important than where you are going,
more and more of us are rooted in the present tense or the future as much as in the past
and home we know is not the place where you happen to be born its the place where you become yourself
-pico Iyer

Movement, ultimately, only has a meaning if you have a home to go back to. And home, in the end, is not just the place where you sleep, it’s the place where you stand.

“homesick
cause I no longer know where home is”

A moment of internal chaos

Cold reality hits my face, making a double-sized riso zire will take quite a bit of time to print due to te waiting between layers. This means I will have to get the zine outline done this week and start printing next week.
I feel slightly lost and scattered, finding it hard to focus. Trying to figure out what I really want to say and communicate with this project.
Am I trying to say that roots are essential? Or that they're good?
Or am I just posing the question of whether to choose them or wings, stability or freedom? I want it to be an exploration, not a story with a clear narrative.

A moment of less internal chaos

I feel a bit calmer now, I did a riso tester today and it helped me to start imaging the zine. I've been working on the cover today as well as noting down things I want to say or have on the zine.

This week has been a week of getting my everything together. So far I have been making a lot of printing from riso and monoprinting to intaglio. Now the next step is bringing these together. I am currently ignoring the shoes a little bit because I know the 3D workshop is super hectic and finding slots seems near impossible.
I have decided that I will focus on making the zines happen as they'll bring the project nicely together, exploring both the rootiness of roots but also my own lack of them. I imagine two riso zines with two colours both (I would love to make 3-colour ones but will save that for a time when I can save 6 consecutive days for riso).
Underneath there's a bunch of my sketchbook process as I am figuring out what I want to include in the zines. One of the major things I want to have there is a mini story about rootlessness. I am quite excited to start making this!