Before getting into the details of this little DIY activity, I wanted to answer one common question : What is a zine?
A zine is much like a magazine in so many ways - to sum it up into one sentence a zine is a homemade magazine.
Zine culture is the physical embodiment of many DIY principals. Where magazines and books require a lot of resources and connections to create, zines can be made by just one person and photocopied in a public library and then distributed however the zinester sees fit.
There are so many ways to create zines and the possible subject of the booklets is only limited by creativity of the creator. Over the years I have created zines on all sorts of subjects though I usual tend to stick to what I know and write about nature & crafts.
And that brings me to the topic of today's zine; a collage of information and photos about the common butterflies in the ecosystem where I live in rural Argentina.
I have been an avid observer of butterflies for about 4 years now. In the beginning I was touched by the rapid decline in the population of the monarch butterflies in North America which is where I am from originally. Inspired to spread the word about creating pollinator gardens I made a zine with a bit of information about some common butterflies and herbs that they love to visit. Here is a page from that, very handmade, publication:
I love to look back at my older publications. This one in particular is very special to me as it gives a snapshot into my life at the time as a backpacking gardener.
And beyond that my partner also created a set of 6 butterfly stickers and I wrote a little booklet to go with it:
As you can see, this is not the first zine that I have created or co-created about butterflies. But, this is the first time that I will be writing a zine in Spanish and specifically focusing on the butterflies of my current home.
Writing in Spanish always intimidates me. Speaking in Spanish does too - I often find myself at a loss for words when invited to gatherings where I am the only one who speaks Spanish as a second language. And so, I thought having a short, concise, and colorful booklet on hand to give to new acquaintances might be a good way to break the ice.
I often write more personal zines about my art and herbalism practice based on my personal experiences and folk knowledge passed down to me. But, when it comes to writing about nature and plants I always do a bit of research so that the text in my booklets is accurate and informative. Luckily, I am a nerd and have a big pile of books to reference and often do a little online research too.
Depending on where you live I have different books to recommend if the subjects of butterflies or pollinator gardens interest you. Obviously getting a guide to help identify butterflies in your country and region is key. And as all butterflies have hosts plants (herbs, flowers, or trees that they need for their survival) it is also a good idea to get books about local flora as well. If you live in North America, the Xerces society has tons of books, many available second hand, to get started. And if you live in Argentina I recommend the books you see in the pictures.
After jotting down some notes as well as key points I want the zine to cover, I started to go through my camera roll of all the photos I have taken of butterflies over the past few years, selected the very best, printed them, cut them out and began to arrange the layout of the zine.
I hope to make a polished zine with more of a scientific lens rather than personal anecdotes. The goal with this zine is to create a pocket sized introduction to butterflies that explains why they are so essential to ecology, how to identify the butterflies in our area, and what we can do as humans to support them thrive.
This is how my creative process works, first I need inspiration for a subject, then information, and only once I have a set of beautiful pictures to use (always my own photos) the writing begins!
With my layout mostly resolved and a notebook full of notes and ideas, I sit down to write my first ever Spanish language zine!