Alex Campbell

Alex Campbell is one of those people who just radiates. An active member of the Brisbane arts community, volunteering at 4ZZZ, working on a zine and playing in a popular band, Alex regularly comes in to use the Visible Ink space for projects. Running zine workshops, she also uses the space for printing and using The Arts Hub. With 15 issues of the zine she edits under her belt, we’re stoked we could track her down for an interview and ask her some questions about her motivations and passions.

What do you do, why did you choose to go down that path, and what do you love about it?
I am the editor and one of the contributors of Slubberdegullion Magazine (Slubs Zine). The zine came about when I was living with a group of people in a big share house in early 2011 and we decided to start a house zine, featuring drawings and writings from friends of ours and reviewing and interviewing local bands.

It kind of got to be something bigger and we began to get other contributors and started distributing it in shops such as Atavist Books and The Time Machine in Nambour.

I love being involved in the zine because its so much fun to be creative with friends, making art, writing, hanging out with bands etc. It’s awesome to have an avenue to publish both our own work and that of our friends. It’s really great to have a platform to speak on and to raise awareness of things that matter to us happening in our community. I love meeting people who have collected all the issues or seeing emails in our inbox from readers saying what they loved/hated about the past issue.

What are you currently working on project-wise?
Currently we are gathering some stuff together to create Slubs Issue 15!

What would you say led you to where you are today? Eg background, achievements, inspiration?
A love of writing and collage! and discovering new music and bands, also my sister introduced me to zines when I was quite young and I loved the whole idea of them from the start.

What do you get up to in your down time? Do you have any hobbies?
I write music and poetry and play in an all girl punk band called GUNK. I also love going out to gigs and vegan cooking.

What’s it like being a young person in Brisbane? What suggestions would you make to improve the city?
In Brisbane, there definitely needs to be more avenues for young people to express themselves, more public art spaces, more government funding for small scale creative projects. I think there needs to be less of a focus on sport and more of a focus on the arts.

What advice or inspiration would you share with other young people?
Anyone can make art, anyone can make a zine, anyone can play music or write, regardless of background, education etc don’t let anyone tell you you can’t, everyone’s opinion of what is good is different, so don’t doubt yourself, or give up before you’ve even tried! You might be surprised what skills you can discover if you just give it a go.

Is there anything else you’d like to add? Where can people get in touch with you?
You can email us with questions and contributions at slubs_zine@hotmail.com and we can also post you a copy of the zine.

If you want to be notified of events or when new issues are coming out, check out our Facebook page. Otherwise pick up a copy at Atavist Books in Winn Lane.