Introducing: RAW: Race & Disability Anthology
Before I started as a Socially Distant Art Resident, I’ve been working on a passion project of mine called the “RAW Anthology”. This project started as an idea in December 2020 and eventually evolved into digital & printed collaborative anthology that took 2 years to make.
Here’s the story of how it started, the obstacles that came my way and the eventual finale.
Image Description: An illustration of pink colored femme crying blue tears, and two masks attached to her head displaying anger and shock.
It all started from a Facebook group, like many disabled people I found like-minded solidarity from people I’ve never meant. All who shared similar and different experiences living with disabled bodies, confined to our homes and our shared experiences of isolation. As someone who has experience publishing zines, I proposed in the group about whether we should make a zine anthology specifically about BIPOC disabled folks. The group was incredibly enthusiastic about the idea. With their encouragement I decided to pursue this idea.
Within the zine-making community, most zines are made out of pocket and do not pay contributors for their work. Often outlining budget constraints and paying in “exposure”. As someone who values art and believes in financial compensation, I knew that I must pay all contributors and collaborators of the anthology.
For over year, I was applying to every grant I came across. I was adament in my belief that I wouldn’t get a single grant so I kept applying with the same budget line. After months of rejections, I eventually received significant funds from Showwiz and Suffering the Silence.
With that guarantee, on August 2021 I shared a submission Open Call for Raw Anthology project.
Image Description: A dark purple background with white text that reads; “CALLING ALL DISABLED BIPOC, OPEN CALL FOR RACE & DISABILITY ZINE ANTHOLOGY, Honorarium provided.” With a minimalist image of a group of people in beige clothing holding up red flags and marching.
The Open Call was shared on Instagram and Facebook, there was an enthusiastic response from the community and we ended up getting many submissions from all over the world!
Curation & Selection Process
Given the nature of curation, I made some guidelines about what I am looking for before I analyze every submission. There was 3 catagories:
Vulnerability & Emotional Depth
Diverse Perspectives
Originality & Creativity
Selection is always a difficult step. I constantly asked myself about my own biases when it comes to art. Thankfully, I recieved some help from Allie Cashell and Erica Lupinacci from the Suffering in Silence team who wanted to take part in the process.
I sent all of us a rubric and we got to work. I probably read every single piece at least 5 times before selecting, working primarily on making the anthology exciting and different from any other anthology I’ve come across.
The final selection was 12 BIPOC disabled artists from Canada, USA, Spain, South Africa and even India!
Budget & Finances
Grants Total: $3772.42
Costs Breakdown:
$100 CDN + printed anthology sent to contributors ($1200 + $45.35)
$1800 CDN Web Developer fee ($1800)
Printing the anthology ($403.41)
Website Domain & Maintenance ($222)
Marketing ($101.66)
Final Selection of Artists
12 IBPOC creatives from all over the world!
Dana Trick
Nishanth Peters
Kristen Deane
Zaddy Astro
ND
Anonymous
A Change of Pace
Eventually by November 2021, we received grants from the City of Ottawa and the Ontario Arts Council, which made it possible for the project to bigger then it’s initial goal. From printed anthology to a digital & printed anthology.
The vision was to include accessibility to the very foundation of this project made by and for disabled folks. Website version of the anthology would be free for anyone with a laptop access can view freely (link here) and the printed version would be a paid option to support me the curator with these ambitions (buy here).
As hopeful as I was to make this project possible, life got in the way.
2022: A Year of Delays
In order to make a website, you need a web developer. From a recommendation I started working with a web developer in January. Collaboration requires both people to have clear communication and transparency, unfortunately the person I had considered hiring could do neither. With a lot of back and forth, I decided we had to break off.
Mid-March I had it to find someone else to take this project on. Most web developers make websites for at least $6000-$10 000, given that I only recieved microgrants I could only pay a web developer $1800, which is low.
After lots of tension and frustration I found someone and we got to work. It took many months to make the website fit WCAG guidelines of accessibility and experiment a little with web format to make something interesting.
Graphic Design & Assets
A website can’t look pretty if it deosn’t have good graphics. This responsibility was put on me, to make design assets that brought the collection of artworks together in a cohesive way. So I reread all the submissions and made a moodboard that encompassed the emotions and themes explored.
From looking at the board, I came to conclusion that mushrooms really encompassed a lot of the themes. Fungi are versatile organisms that thrive in situations that are not ideal when it comes to decay and decomposition. When we are exploring the marginalized identities of others, our adaptability to our circumstances is our greatest strength. I wanted to explore this through the assets I designed that incorporated colors of purple, greens and pinks, to represent earth and the grounded nature of the submissions in the anthology.
Image Description: An illustration of a person in a mushroom hat sitting at a long dining room table. With a hand from a corner holding a cup of a red drink.
A 2-Part Experimental Project
With a website & printed anthology finished it was time to showcase to the world on February 2023. The website is free to view and the printed version is can be bought
Image Description: A screenshot of the website homepage, only viewable on a laptop screen.
A Digital & Printed Experience
When you get a printed copy, there will be bar codes in a few pages to indicate an audio piece.
Scan and listen!
Reflections
This project was a huge endeavor. As an amateur curator and artist this project was bigger then I had ever imagined it would become. As I market and share the anthology, I wish to learn more about what the future of the project is and some questions that can help guide us as we move forward.
What does it mean to be unfiltered and raw about our experiences living with disabilities?
What platforms and mediums can we create that allows disabled people to express people the best?
If you have any feedback, reviews or answers to these questions, please email me at: thelonelyselfsaboteur@gmail.com
Stay updated on all things RAW Anthology by following: @rawanthologysite on Instagram
