Rape Culture: Zines & Artists' Books features zines and artists’ books from 1970 to present that address the pervasive issue of rape and sexual assault. The works exhibited provide a candid and inclusive view of how rape has permeated contemporary culture. According to the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network (RAINN), someone in America is raped every 98 seconds. Rape culture is the language, laws and prevailing social attitudes that normalize these disturbingly frequent acts of violence.
Zines and artists’ books are a platform for personal expression created without censorship or outside influence. Zines, derived from “magazines,” are alternative publications constructed using inexpensive, easily accessible materials. Zines, as a genre, have historically been used by political, social, and counterculture movements to easily and inexpensively proliferate information. Zines are often created in a cooperative, utilizing multiple mediums of expression from poets, essayists, and visual artists. An artist’s book is a medium of expression that employs the structure of a book as inspiration while challenging the conventional contents of a printed volume. In sharp contrast to zines, artists’ books are produced in limited numbers and are classified as works of art typically produced by a single creator. The exhibition utilizes both mediums to confront the prevalence of sexual harassment, misconduct, and violence in our culture and prompts the viewer to reflect on one’s own attitudes and conduct that may perpetuate its normalization.
Warmest thanks are extended to the “zinester” community of Southwest Florida for their continued contributions to the university’s growing zine collection. We would also like to thank Project Help in Naples for loaning their t-shirts from the “Clothesline Project.” This exhibition was made possible through the cooperation and contributions of Oberlin College, the University of Miami, and the University of North Texas. Our sincerest gratitude to the S(he) Will Fade community, whose courageous contributions of their survivor stories inspired this exhibition. The ethnographies, excerpts of which are featured in the exhibition, are available in their entirety on DigitalFGCU.
