One Side Only: From then to now, Southend’s alternative press

Book a free ticket here! 

If you’re interested in making your own publication, collaborating with other local creatives or digging into Southend’s history of DIY culture, this is the night for you!  

We’ll start in the 70s.  

Artist/writer Graham Burnett will share an insight to the underground press and DIY culture of Southend, as captured in his new book. Southend on Zine explores 50 years of Southend’s counterculture, as told through fanzines, people’s papers and community magazines made in the town between 1971 and 2021.  

Fast forward to 2023.  

Meet Jemma Harwood, who will introduce us Eye Junk Zine. Jemma curates and distributes this brilliant collaborative art zine every other month, as well as spotlighting local events and hosting a regular call-out for new work. Pick up Issue04 and find out how to submit your own work for the next issue! 

Reach across time and make your own broadside!

With materials supplied on the night (and anything you might like to bring along), we invite you to draw on inspiration from Graham and Jemma’s short talks and publications to make your very own broadside. Broadsides were one of the most common forms of printed materials between the 16th and 19th century. Often sold at public executions, used to share song lyrics, or designed to be folded into pamphlets, a traditional broadside might have been used as a type of souvenir, a temporary artwork or a cheap way of sharing and spreading information.  

Whether you use monoprinting, the written word, collage or origami, we invite you to try something new, put your thoughts to paper, explore the punk side of writing and connect with fellow writers and artists of Southend and beyond!