The "Cartonera" movement, much like the "Zine" movement, aligns its messages with the working-class, alternative, and everyday people who create them. Both of these formats privilege the community they are dispersed within, giving a voice to the producers that have often been cut out of post-industrial consumer culture in the US. I was drawn to the independent publishing power of the Cartonera. Given Duncombe's in-depth discussion of the ever-growing divide between those who consume material and the people who create it, it was refreshing to be confronted with another piece of this DIY culture. This 'go out and try it' method of creating, especially with found materials and the cast-off that have been made (in)accessible to the masses, feels like a crucial part of human nature that is fundamentally suppressed by the capitalist market
The material aspects of cantoneras also deeply interest me. This format acts as a way to repurpose the waste of a community and then, unlike the majority of zines today, individually craft, hand-paint and design unique covers. I noticed that the cartoneras did not seek to ignore the materials they are made from (repurposed cardboard from labeled products) but instead allowed their art to build discarded products into something new. This takes the fundamental 'do-it-yourself' approach further than many zines are willing to go, sacrificing some of the efficiency of production for a more concrete, visceral, and human connection art.
In the application of my pedagogy, I would consider studying the creation and communal necessity for cartoneras/ zines/ artist books. Pushing students to answer for themselves questions like "What is the purpose of independently published art/ art made by hand?"/ "What is the difference between this project and a mass-produced or AI-made version?" It would be incredibly interesting to push students to create their own or develop a classwide project in a secondary-level creative writing course. I would highlight the physical aspects of this design, especially that no two works will ever be the same and that the independence of this process is what makes these art pieces so impactful.
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