Page 3 - Vo Vo | FIX MY HEAD #6: QTPOC PUNK ARTISTS

hellooooooo
it’s me agaiiiiinnnnn... since the last issue which launched at the Chicago Zine Fest (March 2014), i have:
had steep learning curves trying to settle into the USA, been looking desperately for work, toured Western/Central/Eastern Europe for
3 months with my hc/punk bands and my solo music, tried to start bands here in Seattle, met a bunch of incredible inspiring
welcoming people, met a couple of snobby boring people, had rad support from my housemates and other close buddies, opened my life to the prospect of intimacy, hung out in my room drawing and writing alot, said some goodbyes, supported people through sickness and loss, and wrestled with family/Viet stuff. I’m sure I will cover some of this shit in the next issue of my “perrrrrrzine”.
the two major ‘News’ events that i feel dominated my awareness in the last few months were:
- renewed attacks on Gaza,
we hope to keep the Israeli state and military under audit, and make sure that Palestinians are delivered the rights they are promised moving forward.
- shooting of Mike Brown, revealing unavoidable and inherent racism of police and state,
their using fatal excessive force,
and exposing the media circus, exploitative frenzy and also the community solidarity in Ferguson.
Around me, this incident highlights our local situation with the SPD,
state-sanctioned shootings of people of color that happen every week with little media coverage. Hopefully the media sustains its attention on similar cases that continue occurring...
While writing this, there is unreleased information about the murder by police that happened one week ago, of Darrien N. Hunt in Utah, who was in cosplay with a toy sword and then shot six times in the back. Similarly, grand jury starts this week for John Crawford who was shot and killed while holding a toy gun whilst shopping at Walmart. Both men were aged 22, in ‘Open Carry’ states, and were black.
if anyone ever doubted the existence of white supremacy, or the idea of people not being “created equal”, this is a hard time to deny either thing. (also: fuck you and fuck off)
and thus, i try to continue with my efforts in amplifying the voices and perspectives of POC, and in particular, women, queer and trans
this issue of FIX MY HEAD is a departure from previous formats, to a degree. partly because i want to acknowledge my love of illustrators and comic artists, that medium being my primary escape since collecting the old TMNT comix from the age of 12, and continuing in my 20s to blow all my disposable income on comix, always more so than music, or even food at times... my personal zine has always been half illustration - but again, i never regarded them as anything besides idle doodles. this time, i wanna say, hey, i love this shit, and i want to explore and discover the art of awesome QTPOC, as i recognise illustration and comics to be a largely white-male-dominated space, at least in it’s relation to punk, DIY, etc etc etc.
the interviews in this issue are killer, but i also wanted to pay heed to the way that images convey emotions and ideas that words sometimes cannot.
so i’m hoping to showcase some work, to projects or people that need illustrators or comic artists. i encourage y’all to contact the artists, drown them in praise and gifts. their contacts are contained herein.
interpersonal interviews, is because i feel that there are so many platforms, especially in a modern and “western” context, for personal and subjective channels of these types of communication and expression. i’m excited that more people are talking about imbalances and abuses of power than what i noticed were acknowledging this stuff a few years ago. and i hope the conversation continues rampantly and respectfully.
at this stage, i’m trying to explore things as a physical artefact, as an art product, as something beautiful, meaningful, or something to read on the toilet.
i am still on my mission of worldwide domination, so i invited artists from USA, london (uk) and oceania. as always, future issues are open to submissions and i cannot wait to meet new people doing rad shit. the next issue is on movement, migration,
ohhhh i succumbed and got a tumblr a few months ago, heeeeelllllpppp me... (but FUCK FACEBOOK FOREVER HAHAHA) so my current contact details are below.
keep being nice to people that deserve it! love from anna vo
fight me - annaannavo@gmail.com http://twitter.com/ibeannavo http://annaxvo.tumblr.com
drawings on contents page & this, by me