finding gentleness in a harsh world
Bloomurder (Laura)
16 pages
https://linktr.ee/laurabibby
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/BLOOMURDER
‘finding gentleness in a harsh world: a little guide to slowing down’ is a black and white (with colour cover), A6-sized zine about things you can do to come back to yourself and embrace the calm that is still in life if you take a moment to go for it.
Every now and then I see a zine and it feels like it comes into my life at an awesome, if not perfect, time. This is one of those zines.
‘finding gentleness’ opens with the quote “The sun don’t shine in your tv” from Daniel Johnston, beautifully setting the tone for this zine. We then get into the zine, which a gentle reminder that it’s okay to step away from the world for a while even though it feels like the world is zooming by even if you’re looking right at it. Many of us are adults, of course, but it can be helpful to be reminded of these things.
From there, Laura gives a series of suggestions (with some of Laura’s thoughts and sub-suggestions included) for how to slow down. There were ones I expected, like go offline, but there were other things that weren’t activity based as such, which I greatly appreciated as someone who is limited by her chronic illnesses. For example, I tried to remember the last time I let myself feel my feelings (page seven). It’s so easy to numb things with technology.
The aesthetic of this zine is a ‘just enough’ level of collage that really suits a zine that is, partially in a way, about uncomplicating life. Each suggestion has its own page (with a couple that are spreads (two pages)). All the text is nicely readable and spread out. Just looking at the pages helps me to slow down and take a breath.
‘finding gentleness in a harsh world: a little guide to slowing down’ is a lovely mix of expected and unexpected suggestions for slowing life down. It’s a lovely zine full of reminders, and I recommend picking it up to everyone.
