Zine 8: Apocalypse
Published May 2023 | Edited by Calla Norman & Phoebe Pan
Overview
Thank you for expressing interest in this survey conducted by the Archive of Obsolete Feelings (AOF), a branch of the Department of Futurity. Our goal is to ensure the preservation and continuation of forms of expression that have been abandoned or rejected since the world changed: feelings that have no discernable place in the world we now inhabit.
This survey was conducted during the Fourth season of the Aftermath. We deployed the word “apocalypse” broadly, asking participants to respond to the term however they saw fit, in whatever way they envisioned and had experienced in their own corner of this apocalypse. Responses varied from paragraphs, to full or half sentences, to bullet points, to sketches.
Responses to this survey were compensated via resource trade—ex: a book, a cast iron pan, a packet of seeds, a new pair of boots, a song, an embrace, a ride across the river. Value was approximated through collaborative means between the participants and the researcher(s).
Below is a selected archive of responses (whose authors have agreed to share these publicly). For those who are interested, a blank survey form is available as well, which you can fill out and use for your own research.
Selected responses to this survey, including the ones above, were bound into a collected tome and printed with an accompanying artwork from an artist at the Preservation Library. While the Library has since lost its physical copy of the tome (following the catastrophic upheavals of the Fifth season), they have been able to recover selections through their backup digitization efforts.
Artist's Note
By Cindy Liu
For our zine theme, I wanted to explore the peculiar sense of existing at the cusp of an apocalypse. I am interested in the onset of dread, despite everything around us seemingly pristine and beautiful, and how we try desperately to save what we might lose, all the while having already grieved the possibility of losing everything. This cover is inspired by the phenomenal premiere of Attack on Titan The Final Season, Part 3. Living within an apocalyptic world is harrowing enough, but the show deftly examines how we get there and why it's often too late to turn back. This piece is inspired by The Final Season's outro credits, which is coupled with a soaring, earnest OST that perfectly encapsulates the nostalgia of what once was and the triumph of resisting oppression to create our own kind of freedom.
Drawn by hand on Procreate for iPad
Brushes:
- Inking: Studio Pen, Technical Pen, Gel Pen
- Painting: Soft Brush, Round Brush
- Luminance: Glimmer, Bokeh Lights, Lightbrush