Our 6th installment of Zinesters in LCF Special Collections features Julia Lamare, their zine AA Braz can be found in our zine collection.
Name and location..
Julia Lamare, Vancouver BC
How long have you been making zines for?
I started making zines a year ago, in 2016.
What do you like to create zines about?
Currently I’m interested in making what I call ‘magazine zines’ wherein I take an issue of a fashion magazine and re-author it through collage.
What is your favourite zine/comic/book?
I can’t say that I currently have a favourite, there are a lot of great zines out there and I am always seeking them out, both locally and internationally.
Tell us a bit more about your creative process..
I start with an issue of a fashion magazine (the 2016 September issue of Harper’s Bazaar in this instance) and through collage, I remove images and texts from their original context or combine them with other parts to create my own subversive spreads, which are intended to be satirical. Through this process of re-configuration I intend to be critical of typically gendered representations of women and notions surrounding the fashion industry’s dissemination of femininity.
What does it feel like to have your zine/s in the London College of Fashion Library’s Special Collections?
I am incredibly flattered and excited to have AA Braz included in this collection. It’s great to have an established institution support my emerging practice. It validates the work I am making and gives me incentive to continue making zines.
What influenced AA Braz?
Making these ‘magazine zines’ comes from a long time interest in fashion and particularly fashion photography. While I admire the creative output that fashion magazines represent, at the same time I am very conflicted by the manipulative nature of the fashion industry. Fashion magazines are largely made for women by women and are therefore platforms with great potential to be sources of positive empowerment through their influence on stereotypical representations of gender and sexuality. Yet, when you look at some of fashion’s most influential magazines, women still appear to be objectified and materialized in demeaning ways.
What one piece of advice would you give UAL students about zine making?
Zines are a great place for experimentation, providing an open platform to voice thoughts and opinions whether political or personal and are an amazing medium for accessible artistic distribution.
