Daily Acts of Resistance – A NEW Dragon Fruit Project Zine!

Image description: A preview of the center page of the 3rd Dragon Fruit Project Zine. Background graphic is orange with overlayed text and graphics such as "What keeps us alive?" — Image description: A preview of the center page of the 3rd Dragon Fruit Project Zine. Background graphic is orange with overlayed text and graphics such as “What keeps us alive?”

This summer saw the release of the 3rd Dragon Fruit Project (DFP) Zine! For those unfamiliar, a zine, shortened from fanzine or magazine, is a self-published work often featuring original texts and images that give voice to those outside of the mainstream. It also serves to visualize important issues and promotes freedom of self expression. The theme of the 3rd DFP Zine is Daily Acts of Resistance, showcasing community art on how we resist and heal through the dissemination of queer and trans API stories.

The zine effort was lead by APIENC summer intern, Ralph Leano Atanacio. His individual project for the summer was DFP Quality Control and Dissemination. This included doing quality control on DFP interviews, while also coming up with a dissemination plan to further visibilize DFP and amplify the hxstories of the people featured in DFP. Thus, the 3rd DFP zine was born.

Ralph shared some of his own reflections about the importance of the zine and the process of compiling the content:

“I think the zine is important because it allows us to further share the amazing content within the DFP. It makes the DFP more accessible than it already is by combining visual and written art to highlight the transformative power of reading the hxstories of our people. The DFP zines bridge the gap between the stories and the reader by making tangible the guidance, healing, and inspiration that people take away from learning about the people who reside in these interviews. It helps those unfamiliar with DFP to be able to imagine and envision what they can personally get out of these interviews for themselves and for their own communities.

When I was assigned the task of making a zine, I did not know what a zine was, much less how to pronounce it. Through the help of people in the APIENC Community, I was able to really learn the ins and outs of what a zine is, who it is for, and what the zine making process looks like. I was very anxious to see if people would respond and contribute to the zine, but the first submission took that anxiety away. The first submission exceeded my expectations and really made me look forward to what people will come up with. It was powerful and raw and I was moved. Leaning into the uncertainty of what art will be created made me hopeful. These are truths people will bare, and I felt special knowing that they want to share a piece of themselves to a greater public.“

Check out the zine online here.