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Miscellaneous Mon Aug 26 2013
Out Now: 3rd Language's Third Issue
3rd Language is a relatively young, Chicago-based collective of queer artists and writers, and both skill sets are amply reflected in its quarterly zine series. Each issue gathers essays, poetry, comics, photography, and more into a themed publication marked by increasingly lovely graphic design--the third issue is now available online and in print, and it shows an evolution far beyond the classic cut-and-paste aesthetic.
The theme this time around is Queer Lineage and Archive, which contributors interpret in a wide variety of ways. There are Veronica Stein's ridiculously appealing photographic tableaux of "brown, queer, female" bodies in settings that look like they might be the stage for some kind of avant-garde children's theater. Mexico City artist Clara Atri's photos of women mostly hidden by the edges of the frame aim to document the fragmenting of identity that comes with being a lesbian in the kind of close-knit, traditional community where she lives. The breadth covered is remarkable: a charming comic from Clare Austen-Smith that uses five significant objects to tell her own coming-out story sits right alongside Adam Liam Rose's documentation of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, for instance. You can read Queer Lineage and Archive for free online, but to get the full visual effect you might want to track down a physical copy.