BUCK is a talent-driven, global creative agency, and they know a little something about how collaborative creativity exists to draw on diverse perspectives. Because when folks listen and are entirely open to others, the world not only becomes a more accepting place but a community where anything is possible.
The artists at BUCK worked together to create an interpretive, technicolor series of artworks curated into a Risograph-printed zine titled "Give Us Our Flowers: A Global Archive of Queer POC Rebels." The zine features 27 notable LGBTQ2IA+ figures ranging from Pine Leaf Woman Chief, a hero of the Crow tribe, and one of their most notable leaders from the 19th century, to Simon Nkoli, an anti-apartheid, gay rights, and AIDS activist from South Africa.
Not only does the zine feature these prominent figures, leaders, and heroes, but it champions their stories as told by people from the cultures represented. Not to mention, 100% of proceeds go to The Stonewall Protests, The Triangle Project, and The Black Trans Art & Joy Fund, creating a space that not only features LGBTQ2IA+ but supports others' missions as well.
While the purpose behind the zine is impactful and beautiful, the design itself is equally so. Buck printed the zine in collaboration with Secret Riso Club, an anti-capitalist design studio concentrating on intersectional social justice, design, and community building.
Choosing to print the zine through a risograph style creates an aesthetic that feels purposeful, physical, forward-thinking, and truly one of a kind, fitting as only 100 copies of the printed books have been sold.
Five hundred zines in total were printed to share with BUCK employees and the subjects recognized in the zine, as well as their family members. Sharing the publication internally with BUCK's employees across Los Angeles, New York, Sydney and Amsterdam was essential to the employee resource group and speaks to the open, educational, and collaborative space that BUCK engenders. This project is truly helping to open the narrative around Pride and rebuffs stereotypes while cultivating a more inclusive world.
