“I think they’re just a really awesome way to express yourself that’s really accessible,” Middleton-Sizemore said. “By accessible in this case, I mean it takes almost no materials and no money to make a zine.” 

Adriana Torres, an artist from Lexington, N.C., said she was drawn to making zines because they are cheap and easy to make — and they can be about anything.

Torres started by making zines about politics, and now she said her artwork is a way for her to preserve childhood memories.

“I’m trying to expand my work into more personal things, focus on my culture and my background,” she said. “I have a couple things coming up that are related to being Mexican American and just having immigrant parents, because there’s not a whole lot of that in the zine community, so I kind of also just want to showcase that.” 

For Yumeng Fu, an illustrator and comic artist based in Cary, the event was her first time tabling at an art market.

Art is a way for her to express herself, but also a way to share her ideas with others, Fu said. Events like the Chapelboro Zinefest, she said, are good opportunities for her to meet other artists and learn from them. 

After her first zine festival, Torres said she felt inspired by the other artists.

“It’s really community-based — just to see everyone interact with each other,” she said. “I met lots of cool people during that event, and I was like ‘Man, I kind of want to keep seeing these people and work with them.’” 

Beyond connecting artists with other artists, the zine festival also allowed attendees to interact directly with artists and hear about their work. 

“I really like talking to everybody and seeing their stories,” Maddie Priebe, an attendee,said. 

Lore Morton said that events like this are important in showcasing a community of people finding alternative ways to support themselves through their art and creativity. 

“I think zines are really, really important right now,” she said. “The publishing industry is really hard for a lot of people to break into, even indie publishing. So showing people that there are unique ways to have their work seen and appreciated, and that there are people willing to support them directly is so important.”

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