Super shaky video of me distributing the zine at First Friday.

Here is a link to the InDesign template I used to make my zine. You can also make a one page zine using Photoshop, however, I found InDesign to be much better to use because it already had the correct spacing for content.

Zine Day from Diana Bagra on Vimeo.

I went to the art walk in the Santa Fe Art District and distributed my first zine, "Corpus". I put zines in cars, in the baskets of the Denver BCycle bikes, and into sculptures. I also wore fake styrofoam boobs on my belt and gave a zine to everyone who looked at my boobs.

Open Concept Ideation

‘Zines are great modes of communicating ideas and sharing artwork as they are small, easy to distribute, and can be very inexpensive to produce. Plus, ‘zines are really fun to make and trade!

The theme of this ‘zine will be bodies. In theory, all human bodies are inherently the same: we have a head, two arms, a torso, genitalia, legs. Yet, everyone has different views of bodies and opinions of what body types are acceptable and sexually attractive. Many people suffer from body dysmorphia: they do not see their bodies as they really are but instead as versions created by their mind. Others feel uncomfortable in their own skin, a feeling brought on by society and media, or through other psychological factors such as gender dysphoria. I have always been fascinated by how others view bodies, particularly their own, and I think those views are most elaborately presented through art.

I would like to explore these concepts, along with others, in this ‘zine, through artwork and writing submitted to me by my friends and peers. Ideally, I would like for this ‘zine to be humorous...but we'll see what happens.

Zine Ideation

I created a Facebook group of artists and friends, and invited them to create something for my zine. Here is what I asked people to submit. Submit a piece of art. A painting, drawing, photo, print, etc. that relates to your body, or the human body in general. It can be a self-portrait, a nude figure, a personification of a body part, a piece of art created with a body part (a drawing done with your feet, painting done with your butt), an abstracted version of a body, an idealized/aestheticized body, anything you see as representative of the human body or your perception of the human body. Submit a piece of writing. Write a short story/poem/haiku about your experience in your body, your thoughts on your body, or from the perspective of your body, etc. without making it explicitly clear that this is what the writing is about. Think about the journals from “Fight Club” written from the perspective of organs. For example, if you are writing about how your eyes would react to contact lenses, you could say "We are so sick of being covered in polymers all day. It gets so hot and sweaty, and maybe we enjoy the blurry hazy world. Did you ever think about that?" You could also submit a piece about an experience, such as breaking a bone, exercising, pregnancy, etc.

Visiting PeepShow at Castle Marne during Doors Open Denver. #peepshow #castlemarne #doorsopendenver #art #stainedglass #artdeco #denver (at Castle Marne)

Final Project Ideation

The attached link is a helpful guide from the Art Institute of Chicago about writing an artist proposal. Not everything in this guide applies to our class but it is a good starting point if you have never written something like this before.

After painting the external sides of the panels, I attached pieces of foam I found to the inside with silicone caulking. I then covered the foam pieces with the caulking and rolled them around in gravel and sand to create a texture similar to an ancient desert dwelling.

Shoutout to my lovely friend Allegra for helping me spray these panels and not complaining about killing our precious braincells with paint fumes.

Action shots! The rattlecan paintjob did not turn out very well so I repainted the panels with black housepaint the following day.

Cutting out the 4x4 panels and failing miserably. X-Acto blade to the rescue.

Don't cut cardboard with a saw from the Dollar Tree...

Self Critique

I think my installation was successful, when I played the music for myself and sat in the box, I felt like I was experiencing the plight of the Jewish slaves firsthand. I would definitely change a couple of things if given the opportunity to rework the project, I think the box construction would benefit greatly if it were made out of wood or if the music was played over surround sound speakers in a gallery. Also, per observation of the students who interacted with the installation, I think having a description of the ten plagues would help people connect with the work. When making an initial plan for the piece, I intended to inscribe the ten plagues on the walls of the installation but forgot to do so. I was inspired to create this by Laleh Mehran's installation Men of Work, Men of Nature, and if I had the funds I would create the space out of nicer materials and engrave verses from the Torah about the plagues on the internal walls.

View of the courtyard at St. Elizabeth's Church and Monastery