VLOG | Where have you been all my life? (finding my people at CPH Zine Fest)
Lars burst into my studio the other day and said, ‘I just found an event with your name on it - it’s called ‘Community In Otherness’ and it’s part of CPH Zine Fest.’ This is the story of what happened next.
Plus, a whole pile of Halloween goodness in the form of Dr Labrini’s Psycho Circus at Bakken, and the cosy, spooky, sparkly beauty of Tivoli.
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🎶 All music by the incredible Caspar Riis: https://soundcloud.com/caspar-riis. Used with permission.
Finding My People at Copenhagen Zine Fest
You know that feeling when you walk into a room and immediately think "oh, these are MY people"? That happened to me recently at Copenhagen Zine Fest, and I need to tell you about it.
(This video is made possible by the Friends of the Haus — my wonderful supporters who tip me every month so I can keep making these videos and, most importantly, so I can keep making the art I actually want to make. If you want to join them, there's a link in the description.)
The Moment I Walked In
I've been making art for years — paintings about neurodivergence and otherness and being a misfit. I've been writing newsletters sharing my favourite stories and culture from misfits, freaks, and weirdos. I've even recently started making zines. But somehow — and I genuinely don't know how I missed this — I didn't realise that zine people were going to be my people.
I walked into that room at Copenhagen Zine Fest and it was like... [gestures] ...fucking magic. Everyone there was making something weird and personal and handmade. Anti-establishment, DIY, punk energy everywhere. People celebrating all the things that make them different or 'other'. The name of the opening event was literally Community in Otherness, for goodness' sake.
And I just stood there thinking: "Where have you lot been?"
Where My Audience Has Been All Along
Here's the thing — I've been searching for my audience for ages. Trying to figure out where the people are who would connect with my work. People who understand what it's like to feel perpetually out of step with the world. People who value authenticity over polish, over the Instagramification of human experience. Who want art that celebrates them, celebrates otherness.
And they've been in the zine community this whole time.
Because zine culture is literally everything I value. It's about making things that matter to you, not things that are commercially viable or will perform well on Instagram. It's about physical, tactile objects you can hold in your hands. It's about community over commerce. It's about radical honesty and personal voice. All of it matters here.
The Conversations That Changed Everything
The conversations I had at that fest... people just got it. They were excited about my projects and my art. They understood why I'm doing what I'm doing — I didn't have to convince anyone of the value of it, they just knew. Plus, what an unbelievably friendly and welcoming group of people. Which is unusual in Denmark, unfortunately.
I met people making zines about their gender journey, their sexuality, their mental health, their weird obsessions, their disability, their autism. Stories that matter. People who've been told they're "too much" or "too weird" or "too intense" and decided to make that their superpower instead. One person had made a whole zine about the compulsion they felt to stick things in their eyes — which is mad, but brilliant.
What It Feels Like to Not Be the Odd One Out
For the first time in a really long time, I didn't feel like I had to explain myself. I didn't feel like the odd one out — I felt cool and special and connected, surrounded by other people who were cool and special and connected.
When you've spent your whole life feeling like you're slightly the wrong shape for every space you enter, finding a room full of people who are also the wrong shape — but who've made being the wrong shape into their whole thing — it's quite emotional, actually.
Circuses, Sideshows, and Photocopiers
Last night, we were at Bakken — you saw that bit — and I was thinking about how circuses and carnivals have always been havens for outsiders. The freaks, the bearded ladies, the contortionists, the performers who were considered too strange for "normal" society. They found community with each other. They made their difference into spectacle, into art and celebration.
The zine community is the same thing, just with photocopiers and staplers instead of big tops and sideshows. It's people who don't fit finding each other and going: "Right, we'll make our own culture then, shall we?"
What's Next
That's why I love this stuff. That's why I make the work I make. It's why I built the Haus of Cats.
And I am so inspired — I cannot wait to turn all of my zine ideas into reality and share them with you as they happen. I'm also looking forward to going to more events and connecting with more zinesters going forward.
Hello, Zine People 👋
If you're part of the zine community and you're watching this... hello! I'm so glad you're here. Tell me about your zines in the comments. Tell me about the zine fests you love. Tell me who else I should know about. Tell me everything.
Right — speaking of celebrating weirdness and spectacle, we're about to head to Tivoli for their Halloween event, and I cannot wait to see what kind of gloriously spooky nonsense they've got going on.
Do you want to come too? Of course you do.
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