Essentials Creative

Q***r Out Here Issue 10 / Side A is out

An audio zine exploring the outdoors from q***r perspectives. Side A explores themes of liminality: the betweenness of times and spaces, ways we merge with the more-than-human world, moments of pause and flux in our lives and identities. Side B will be released soon.

Covers by Sixto-Juan Zavala (he/they) — designer, illustrator, storyteller, and returning QOH contributor. Sixto-Juan created the covers using Rhizomatic, an experimental typeface he designed with Misa Yamamoto as collaborators in Essentials Creative for an installation at Chicago Botanic Garden.

On the typeface: “The rhizome is a non-hierarchical structure that allows for multiple outputs without a central structure. An example of a rhizomatic model is the internet; an example of a rhizomatous plant is an iris. The typeface combines geometric and organic forms, referencing digital as well as biological rhizomes. Deleuze and Guattari’s theories of the rhizome have been widely applied by many q***r theorists.”
On the covers: “These designs reference organic forms of plants as well as the digital media we use to create and edit our stories. Plants carry a significant impact in my outdoor experiences so I wanted to feature them in the cover design.”

You can check out more of Sixto-Juan’s work on their website, sjzavala.com

The monarchs came back to Mexico this winter. 64% increase this season. Homero Gómez González fought to keep loggers out of these forests. He was found dead in 2020. The butterflies came back to the forests he protected. The ancestors brought them home.

📹 Video Art: Essentials Creative

🌱 PLANT STORY RESEARCH 🌱

Hey Austin! We’re creating art for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport that explores how communities connect to plants and the natural world, centering Indigenous, Latin American, and Asian perspectives.

Your story could help shape a permanent artwork seen by millions of travelers ✈️

Share your plant story: https://forms.gle/qa3Mn5nMqpNDRpEQ7 or Comment Below

• What plants, places, or communities hold meaning for you?
• What flora, fauna, or food brings your ancestors to mind?
• What colors feel like home?
• What plant or food marks important family moments?
• What did elders teach you about nature?
• What symbols or patterns hold cultural meaning?

We’d love to hear from you!

Austin’s airport is expanding—and public art is part of the journey.

Meet seven local artists creating new Art in Public Places installations for AUS and help shape the cultural gateway to our city.

Saturday, Feb 28 | 10 a.m.–12 p.m
Montopolis Recreation & Community Center
RSVP: https://bit.ly/4kvE5hS

Japan.

Tokyo → Yokohama → Mitaka →

The doors kept opening. We kept entering. Now we’re home and still walking through →