Since 2018, artist Ania Bas has worked with young people, aged 16 to 20 years, at The Grand (Gravesend’s Healthy Living Centre) to co-create a new lifestyle zine.
Throughout the project, the group have collaborated with artists and creative practitioners to develop the publication, and learn new skills, including photography, design, creative writing, journalism, and illustration.
Gen Z have explored self-publishing, graphic design and print with artist-led collective OOMK (One of My Kind), created new zero-waste fashion with the Waste Free Fashion Collective, met with artists and curators at Margate Festival, and visited Turner Contemporary and Somerset House.
For the 2019 Royal Opera House Bridge Annual Conference they created a printed manifesto, and presented a Q&A on their lived experience as young people to hundreds of delegates at The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
To design, edit and print the finished zine, the group have worked closely with Rose Nordin, a graphic designer and illustrator based in London with a particular interest in self-publishing and DIY culture.
Gen Z is supported by Colyer-Furgusson Charitable Trust and Kent County Council. With special thanks to The Grand.
ZED
Issue 0 of Gen Z’s new zine, titled ZED, launches in October 2020.
Co-edited by Maha Amer and Maria Mukamanda it features contributions from Ade Bolaji, Laura Marie Bolaji, Evie Buck, Layomi Coker, Lillian Geria, Jamal Helwig, Princess Higgwe, Eva Karlyte, Jeevan Kennedy, Julia Ngyen, Fabienne Onyema, Alex Porter, Harry Pursons, Mason Rickard, Julian Rynkiewicz, Amelia Rynkiewicz, Beth Selvage, Fiyin Thomas, and Stephanie Walker.
“We know the people before us were known as the SNOWFLAKE generations. But we feel we are so misrepresented by the generations before us, perhaps misunderstood. This magazine is our exploration into our true self representation. We don’t want to be simplified down to just one image.” Gen Z
The zine is a message from Gen Z, based on their real, lived experiences, expressing their interests, hopes, fears and plans for the future, as well as reflecting on the development of the project.
Over the next few months, we’ll be distributing ZED free to young people across North Kent.
If you are 16-25, or are an organisation who works with young people, in North Kent and would like to find out more about the zine and receive a copy, please email us at info@cementfields.org
This series of downloadable journals, written and edited by the group, aim to act as insightful, expressive and critical framework, allowing their ideas to develop into magazine content.