Bodies in the River, River in the Bodies​​​

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It's been a real joy to work on this zine with George, Oscar and the wider Avon community, expressing people's differing, complex relationships with the river.

 

I'm a comic creator and I love using the language of comics to explore vital, real-life and sometimes complicated topics in ways that are accessible and visually enjoyable. For this zine I took a more fluid approach to the page which allowed me to incorporate other elements such as maps, digital interfaces, photographs and different participant's creative responses in a way that feels organic and never takes you out of the flow. The beauty of comics is that many different truths can exist on the same page, creating a richer picture. We couldn't include every single response we received as there just wasn't space, so it was about finding the story and shape out of many responses that best represented our collective experience with the river.

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I designed the format of the zine to evoke a sense of lengthening and deepening, a deepening of our relationship with the Avon as well as a physical submersion. We chose to print in risograph, both as an eco-friendly printing method and to retain a handmade, tactile texture.