Wednesday 16th September 11am - 1pm
Cafe Stryx
Image credit: Jennifer Mae Spooner, drawing from a collaborative Mothership Residency zine-making session, held in August 2026 at Stryx between Anna, Tilli, Yoshe, Otis, Lily, George, Jen and Esme. Mixed media: drawing and photocopy on paper (detail).
A free, family-friendly zine-making workshop for artists and cultural workers who are parents, led by curator Lily Hall, with a focus on leftist and feminist archival practices, and with children welcome to co-create in the space. Open to all.
Join curator Lily Hall for an afternoon of collective reflection and hands-on zine making in the context of the Mothership Residency Exhibition at Stryx Gallery. In this family-oriented, three-hour session you will explore the creative, poetic and political potential of zines using drawing, collage and simple zine-binding techniques as experimental means of making. Try out DIY processes using the photocopier and scanner to make your own zines.
All materials will be provided, including paper, drawing tools, access to photocopying and binding tools. Two simple fold-and-cut and thread-binding methods will be introduced, making the process accessible to beginners, adults and children. A small selection of zines using a wide range of formats, themes and approaches will be available to browse and for inspiration.
Content for zines on the day can grow from an existing personal project, or be developed freely in-situ, drawing inspiration from the Mothership exhibition and reading area. If you would like to include your own materials (text, drawings, collage materials), please feel free to bring them along.
Places are free but booking is essential. Use the link below:
The Mothership Residency Reading Area includes books selected by Lily that have been the focus of shared conversations between the six artists, creative practitioners and cultural workers on the Mothership Residency in 2026. They relate to topics of motherhood, matrescence, feminist economics, care, gender and pedagogy at the intersections of leftist and feminist thought.
Key references from the reading area during the workshop include the ‘Kiila Feminist Archive Bibliography’ by artist Minna Henriksson, newly published in July 2026 by Rab Rab Press, Helsinki, to which Lily has contributed an Afterword; Ursula K. Le Guin, ‘The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction’, 1988 / Ignota Press, 2019; and selected issues of the ‘Birmingham Women's Liberation Newsletter’, 1973-77.
This workshop is part of Mothers Who Make at Stryx. Mothers Who Make is an international grassroots movement, dedicated to supporting the dual role of mother and makers/artists/creatives.
Stryx is a Birmingham Hub that is committed to making space for, connecting and supporting local mothers, non-binary birth-givers and care-givers who are also creators through various means such as peer support meetings, workshops, events, discussions, artist talks, exhibitions and more.