It’s 2021. How do we work? Why do we work? Current practices of labor have been compressed, flattened, spread out, and scrambled into a goal-oriented, deliverable-fixated work week. What does it look like when a creative practice resists these paradigms, using uncompressed, exploratory acts of care to build community?

Ahead of their upcoming collaborative self-publishing workshop, MJ Balvanera and Paul Soulellis join us in a conversation about their practices and using self-publishing as a tool for community-building, self-expression, joy, and what matters to us. Bring your curiosity and questions!

ABOUT OUR SUBJECT MATTERS SERIES

Subject Matters Series brings us together on topics we wonder about for open discussion and shared learning.

ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS

MJ Balvanera (she/her) is a Graphic Designer from Mexico City. With the perspective of a cis and light-skinned Mexican national of European descent, MJ likes to think that graphic design can be more than just a series of the arbitrary Eurocentric visual standards. Rather, it can be a fun means of individual and cultural expression. She founded Co—Conspirator Press in 2018 and has since worked as a creative in diverse fields such as: editorial design and publishing, digital marketing, and web, along with workshops and lectures sprinkled throughout.
Website: mjbalvanera.com

Paul Soulellis is an artist and educator based in Providence, RI. His practice includes teaching, writing, and experimental publishing, with a focus on queer methodologies and network culture. He writes and speaks about these topics internationally. He is the founder/director of Queer.Archive.Work — a non-profit reading room, publishing studio, and community space. As an educator, Paul is an Associate Professor of Graphic Design at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). He has spoken at events such as the Walker Art Center as a Design Insights speaker in 2018 and was a featured speaker at the Eyeo Festival in 2019. Paul is also the founder of Library of the Printed Web; a physical archive devoted to web-to-print artists’ books, zines, and printout matter. They are now housed at MoMA Library in NYC.
Website: soulellis.com

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