Zine Library Highlight

Make Yourself at Home

A hand holds two zines above a chair with several more. The booklet in the foreground has a white cover with a patterned border and textual design. The second, slightly behind has a green cover with a simple black drawing of a bird and text.

Make Yourself at Home

I get attached to places easily and quickly. This sentiment is especially strong with places associated with my childhood, but it also extends to various locations that I’ve visited throughout my life. It doesn’t matter how long I spend there; if the timing and the mood are right, a connection can be made. The pond at the nearby park can hold as much importance to me as the café where I’ve spent countless hours writing papers in. I’ve always found it hard to put these feelings into words, to explain how and why this happens. Sometimes I have wondered if I was alone in this, if anyone else felt the same way that I do, but was better at expressing it—something that might help me better understand myself.

This selection from our zine library covers a variety of perspectives relating to the idea of place through a variety of themes: familiarity, nostalgia, exploration, and belonging. Each author directs our attention to aspects of the human experience rooted in the places and the people we share it with.

—Caitlin Gallant (BFA ‘25), Community Engagement and Access Assistant

A black and white map folded into an envelope. One circular red sticker holds the envelope closed; another is stuck to a point on the map. Underneath the envelope is a stack of postcards. The first one on the pile depicts a view of a field as seen through a square window.

Sheilah Wilson ReStack
2014

After 67 years of service, the Radio Canada International radio transmission towers in Sackville’s Tantramar Marsh were removed in 2014. While they may have seemed insignificant to most, many locals held fond memories associated with them. Body Transmission Towers was a project by Sheilah Wilson created during a residency at Struts Gallery & Faucet Media Arts Centre that brings together Sackvillian’s stories about the towers in a set of postcards. While their physical presence no longer lingers, the towers live on within our memories.

On the cover of this publication is a photograph of a snow-covered street leading past buildings and up a mountain at dusk. Illustrations of little white ghosts rise from the ground. The title is written in thick rounded white letters.

Jon Vanneste
2014

This is not your typical ghost story.  Using a mix of drawing and photography, Yukon Ghosts is a comic that gives a glimpse into the memories of the ghosts going about their (after)lives, tethered to the town they once lived in. What sorts of thoughts emerge when you have eternity in front of you?

On the cover of this publication is a scanned drawing of pigeons eating seeds off the ground. “Bird Story” and “Cole Degenstein” are handwritten on little torn pieces of scrap paper.

Cole Degenstein
2022

A funny and light-hearted tale about moving forward and reflecting on the past, Bird Story deals with adapting after moving to a big city and developing new relationships, even if it’s only with the local birds.

The texture of a wall is rubbed onto the white cover with graphite. The title is written in a bold, typewriter font and set within a white rectangle.

Tracy Honn

This little zine takes readers on a trip around the author’s house. Tracy Honn creates graphite texture rubbings of various household surfaces, bringing attention to the familiar and simple elements of everyday life associated with home.

Along with Katie Garth, Tracy Honn is a co-founder of the Quarantine Public Library. You can download this zine for free from www.quarantinepubliclibrary.com.

Two hands hold a zine unfolded to reveal a hand-illustrated map of Fredericton. A numbered list on the bottom third of the map describes mundane sights that can be discovered around the city.

Jennifer Bélanger
2015

Scrolls unfolds into an illustrated map of Fredericton. Instead of pinning popular landmarks and tourist attractions, artist Jennifer Bélanger highlights the mundane aspects of the city, like “Parking meter #14.” The result is a view of Fredericton through her eyes, forcing us to slow down and look for little joys around the city.

A zine opened to a two page spread. On the right page are drawings of tulips, a crow, and a person pushing a lawnmower on graph paper. Handwritten text complements the drawings.

Laura K. Watson
2014

Using lyrics from Dave Van Ronk’s Green, Green Rocky Road and her own poetry, Sackville artist Laura K. Watson illustrates a visit to her partner’s family home . Throughout the zine is a sense of familiarity and comfort, sharing the warmth of a home with the readers.