Festival of the Photocopier 2022
Within our broader research project, one of the jobs of the Folio team is to acquire and advise on comics acquisitions for our partner institution, the National Library of Australia. The aim is to contribute and help fill gaps in their already enormous comics holdings, which are partly filled by legal deposit. Last weekend, two reps from the team, Mia Nie and Ronnie Scott, went to the Festival of the Photocopier at the North Melbourne Meat Market, the first held IRL since early 2020, working to acquire comics in accordance with the NLA’s current collecting strategy.
Here are some minor atmospheric observations from Folio rep #2:
For the first ten or so tables, given pandemic conditions, it felt completely necessary to ask tabling zinesters whether it was okay to browse their wares.
It was always okay to browse their wares.
By tables eleven onwards, it was both necessary and delightful to simply go ahead and browse.
Table aesthetics ranged from the spare to the sentinel-esque, with tabling zinesters encased behind vertiginous stands of zines and other merchandise.
By 2.30pm, almost every table was crowded with conversing fans. The day in general was warm and dry, while the interior of the Meat Market was cooler than outside.
Comics being sold and swapped inside the Meat Market were about Animal Crossing, actual animals, the NDIS, superheroes, the process of comics-making, sex and love and COVID. Life has continued in zine form.
Zines acquired by Folio at Festival of the Photocopier 2022