Make A Zine With Your Ex: Overview and Workshop of Break-Up Zines

Workshop at HAUNANI-KAY TRASK HALL (HKW)

Breakups are cruel, universal parts of our lives that often fuel the very zines that we pick up at art book fairs. This workshop would be a brief survey of printed ephemera that have unique takes on the inevitable phenomenon of the breakup, whether it be Sophie Calle’s communal interaction in her artist book "Take Care of Yourself," DIY zines from individual creators looking back on lost loves, or even a sociopolitical glance at the Beatle’s breakup Micheal Rakowitz’s collection of real and imagined printed memorabilia.

Through this workshop, I want to examine the visual language of the breakup, the significance of it being translated through book form, and the cliches that appear (and are challenged) when a heartbroken artist depicts heartbreak and drifting apart.


During the second half of the workshop, participants would create their own breakup zines through randomly selected prompts and ideas to interrogate their breakups, whether romantic or platonic. Please feel free to bring your ex along for this workshop (but please, keep it civil!) to create a collaborative experience!


Works that would be examined (subject to change):

"Take Care of Yourself" by Sophie Calle

"Breakup Zine #1 and #2" by Vivien Ehdelaveli

"Baltimore Breakups - A Pop-Up Memoir Zine" by Julie Arrerondo

"The Study of Breakups" by Micheal Rakowitz

"Vallenatos Romanticos VOL I" by Mateo Arciniegas

"i would be happy drawing the same square all day" by Sophia Yoo