Lovergirl
Lovergirl is a collective zine publication that connects and gives a space for the voices of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour) and LGBTQIA+ women of Aotearoa in response to the narratives that came to light in 2020.
I’ll say it — 2020 has been a year of instability and unpredictability. Times that felt as if we were going in and out of touch with reality and furthermore, each other. Lovergirl is a point of connection re-connection. Expressing the power of collective consciousness by creating a platform for collective voices. Through creating a space for the works, faces, and stories of the Lovergirls of 2020 — Lovergirl has become an investigation within the celebration for the collective voices, narratives, and stories of our diverse Aotearoa. The zine tackles narratives of activism, identity, displacement, and self-reflection, exploring the significance of the documentation of the conversations that rose through the past year.
Bringing significance to the conversations that are led by us — for us. Seeing love as a universal language that connects us all together.
The red string of fate is the belief that each one of us is bound by an invisible red string tied onto our pinky fingers — the belief that each interaction with anything and anyone, is bound by fate.
Though these threads may intertwine, tangle, and stretch along the way it will always reach its destination as it was destined to. Lovergirl is a point of connection where these threads intersect and meet — where we acknowledge and recognise this destined meeting — giving space for empathy, reflection, and love.
Lovergirl is a space in the form of a zine publication that features a body of multi-disciplinary work facilitated by submissions from Lovergirls (BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, women) — a collection of conversations, photographs, collages, journal entries, and creative works. The publication facilitates conversations of activism, lockdown thoughts, identity, and self-reflection in response to 2020 as a significant year of instability and change; inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement in context to Aotearoa. It was important to be able to bring the voices of the people of colour and the indigenous folk of New Zealand to the front.
“Aint no power like the power of the people, cus the power of the people won’t stop” — Black Lives Matter March, Auckland.
The year has been a year of reflection and change, I personally as a woman of colour didn’t want the movement to just be a moment in a point of time — so through the zine along with the Lovergirls — we wanted to document and carry on the conversations that we started off strongly in the beginning of the year with our dialogues of activism and identity. Through creating a space for our stories to be heard, our work to exist, and our faces to live on; Lovergirl connects everyone to one another, one page at a time, one thread leads to another.
This project, much like the narrative of 2020, has gone through a lot of adaptation and changes due to unprecedented times. Lovergirl had to find new ways of reconnection and embrace uncertainty — operating through both word of mouth and in the digital space. With circumstances proving that fate and love still exist though times may change, we will always find ways to connect.
The zine was heavily inspired by a Riot Grrrl framework, echoing the power of collective voices and the role of design to bring like minded people together. For Lovergirl, I wanted to bring voices together and create a sense of collectivity in answering the need for re-connection in times of isolation cast upon us.
Through Lovergirl, I’ve formulated my passion for design and its role to act as a thread that connects us together, realising my role as designer is to be able to stitch together many different stories and voices through design.
Big love to all the Lovergirls of 2020.
