Ker-bloom! 133
Art Noose
8 pages
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Ker-bloom! 133 is a quarter-sized, letterpress colour zine about Art’s visit to the Hawaiian island of Moloka’i, Kalaupapa National Historic Park, and the history of the area.
We open to a simple title page printed with letterpress in black ink, which, of course, made me immediately want to run my finger over the texture of the letters. Turning the page puts us right into the zine with Art writing about their second trip to Moloka’i. We flow along as Art shares thoughts about hiking in Kalaupapa, how people only rarely visit that particular Hawaiian island, the tour Art went on, and into the history of the island.
If you’re not familiar, a peninsula here was once used by the government “as a forced relocation settlement for people with Hansen’s Disease (commonly referred to as leprosy).”
Art’s writing flows easily and blends a retelling of a trip along with a respectful recounting of history (much of it not pretty). Art doesn’t moralise nor lecture – rather, writing it all out as part of the experience. Tourism with a respect for history. I quite appreciate it as well as the slice of life style of zine this is.
This and all issues of Ker-bloom! are a beautiful experience if you like the tactile side of the zine reading experience. The entire zine is beautifully made with everything done in letterpress on lovely cream paper. Even the main internal text has texture and colour. There’s even a beautiful sliver of pattern in the very centre, and the staples binding the zine seem to disappear into it.
This zine is a prime example of why I mostly stick to reviewing physical zines. Holding this zine adds a whole dimension of experience to the zine in and of itself. All the elements work together beautifully.
Plus, Art uses an element that always makes me smile: the number zine I have out of a limited (in this case, 250 copies) print run.
Ker-bloom! 133 is definitely one to check out and one to keep.
