The Survivor Zine UK

22/06/2023

One of my favourite shots from our event of the beautiful 🥰💜

📸

06/06/2023

Life before blue eyes - poem & artwork by
Both pieces are in our most recent issue 3. Thank you Georgie for sharing your work with us! 💜
*xualviolence

17/05/2023

We're ever so delighted to be able to share with your the aftermovie of our event last month.

We won't say much, because we want you to see it in all its glory. What we will say is though, we love you and our community is stronger than ever.

Special thanks to:

Directors & Producers
film & Elsie Barker

for designing our cover

And of course all the performers & exhibition features - we love you and thank you all for your support 💜

The Survivor Zine UK's first event: Unsilenced - Voices of Survivors.Thank you Elsie Barker & Rosanna Warshawski for directing and editing this film. (...

16/05/2023

With this issue i wanted to do something a little extra. I worked with a very good friend of mine (Illustrator) to create a small folded information booklet/poster. This booklet touches on what victim blaming is and why people do it, examples, ways in which we can communicate better when survivors disclose abuse and some important resources for support. I felt this went well with the theme of this issue as victim blaming often leaves survivors feeling extremely ashamed and can act as a barrier to survivors speaking out and asking for help.
💜
Illustrated beautifully by Amelia. It also folds out into an A4 poster with the words Believe, Support, Empower…these come FREE with every copy of The Survivor Zine UK.
*xualviolence *xualassault

15/05/2023

Issue 3 now available to buy! 🥳 //LINK IN BIO//

We have over 30 submissions from survivors of s*xual violence.
- Art
- Poetry
- Photography
- Interview
- Prose

All profits donated to survivor focused charities.
We really appreciate your support 💜💜
X

08/05/2023

.healing through connection.

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28/04/2023

28/04/2023

We’re still in awe of the love we received at our first event on Saturday; we can’t quite believe it happened, it was magical. We felt so much love, hope, and safeness in that room, and we hope you all did too. The courage of the performers and artists lit up the room, we’re so grateful to of been able to share this moment with you all.

Special thank yous to the wonderful team who helped us set up, kept us assured from start to finish. We couldn’t have done it without you.

We have found our community, we can only grow from here… This is just the start.

Check out our page for all the event pictures, done by the lovely

22/04/2023

💜 SET TIMES 💜

We can't wait to see all your beautiful faces later ✨

21/04/2023

Introducing:

I am a nineteen year old creator from Brighton. My art and my poetry are expressions of how I feel trying to navigate the word, as a trauma survivor and as an autistic person.
I let emotion lead, and my pieces offer a mirror of my headspace as a result. Art is a very important form of catharsis to me, and the act of creating is equally important as the final piece.

21/04/2023

Introducing:

Hi I’m Severine And I like to art. It is a big part of how I communicate with the world and how I communicate with myself.

Without it I’m not sure where I would be….

Art is expression, my freedom and a release. It’s like the one thing I can concentrate on comfortably!

Lots of love xx

Check out her page for an insight to her creative mind and process 💜

20/04/2023

We've been lucky enough to be able to screen the film SANCTIONED during the event on Saturday.

Read below to get to know all about it:

Featuring:

SANCTIONED, a hard-hitting and vulnerable short film about a young woman's journey in regaining ownership over her body in the wake of being r*ped, was Dominique's graduation film at film school. It's not just Harvey Weinstein. Approximately 85,000 women and 12,000 men are r***d in England and Wales every year, and there are far more that go unreported. The UK's society has placed a taboo on people speaking out about r**e and its aftermath, by silencing/blaming victims and excusing the offender. SANCTIONED follows Jessica Tasmin's journey in regaining her body through pagan rituals, life modeling, and the way she chose to present herself, after being r***d. This film explores her body and aesthetic image as she narrates, commenting on the mental aftermath of s*xual trauma and how Jess feels that our society can sometimes sympathise with the perpetrator.
FILM CONTAINS NUDITY.

20/04/2023

Introducing:

'My practice is a safe space for me. I have grown up in unusual circumstances within a multicultural family,  never feeling that I ‘fit in’ anywhere. My childhood was a beautiful exploration and exposition of cultures across the earth but it left me feeling somewhat unsettled and unsure of my place in the world. I have always tried to assimilate into the environment around me which can make me feel disconnected from my heritage and ancestry. I use my practice to draw a line of history and memory with all the parts that make me. I am, you are, like my art, a collection of histories and identities'

Check out her page 💜

19/04/2023

Thank you Freestyle Bristol 👊🏼💜

April 22, sees a music & arts event to celebrate the 3rd issue of Survivor Zine, created by and for survivors of s*xual violence and allies.

19/04/2023

Introducing:

Honey-Rose Regler-Hitchins is a local artist, born in Bristol and raised in Glastonbury. Her work typically fluctuates between pencil, watercolor pencil, and acrylic pieces, but her artistic explorations span to textiles as well as a moving image. She likes to dabble with exciting uses of color and weird distorted figures and objects. As well as this she also frequently writes poems which she sometimes includes in her work, adding an extra element to her pieces. 

Check out her page, to be tripped out n inspired 💜

19/04/2023

Introducing:

Sapphire comes from a small town called Glastonbury and moved to Bristol for her university degree. She’s an aspiring tattoo artist whose work is largely inspired by otherworldly elements with a slight whimsical approach. She also largely works with fine liners and paints on paper or canvas.

Check out her page to see inside her mystical mind 💜

18/04/2023

Introducing: .jpeg

Mallika Khan is a 24-year-old q***r Pakistani expressionist artist, poet, and lecturer based in Bristol, UK. They work in mixed media, combining art and poetry to express their vision. Mallika believes that where sorrow lies, resilience is always there too. Their work across all three aspects reflects this belief, focusing on empowering underrepresented individuals (particularly LGBTQ+ BIPOC) recovering from trauma. Mallika has been recognized by various publications such as Arachne Press, Auxocardia, Brain Mills Press, Bristol Women’s Voice, BreakBread Magazine, Brownie’s Zine, and The Survivor’s Zine.

17/04/2023

Introducing: Ellen ()

Ellen Downes (South West 30 under 30) is the founder of Every Body's Story, Bristol's first body casting studio. She opened the studio in Barton Hill in 2021 as a platform for celebrating the bodies and stories of women and non-binary people. 

Every Body's Story is open for commissions and does 'celebrate your body' sessions to help people to celebrate and connect to their bodies. Ellen also holds annual exhibitions and runs regular life drawing, sh***ri, breathwork, sound bath, and casting events in Bristol and Bath.

 
Last year she started the MY BODY, MY HOME project to share and expose stories of s*xual assault and harassment. Through this project, she has so far exhibited 100 golden bust casts, displayed as armor alongside each person's story. She says, "Through this project, we stand together in power, and resistance. We're showing that most of us carry these experiences in silence, we're not alone and we deserve a future where our bodies are safe".

16/04/2023

Introducing:

Lady Rae's sound focuses on soulful jazzy melodies, she uses poetry to work on the internal landscape and reflecting on the external. Both combined captivates her audiences and leaves them humming along for days after!

14/04/2023

Introducing:

Olivia Rose is a 22-year-old singer/songwriter from Bristol, her sound is a fusion of Alternative R&B and Dance. 

She is inspired by the likes of Sade, Nelly Furtado, and YEBBA. Rose has performed at E1 London, Love Saves the Day and has over 100,000 streams on the remix of her song ‘Heaven’ En:vy.

Her personality is honest and raw, she doesn't take herself too seriously. She is playful, funny, and relatable. Her voice has a strong tone, which pulls you in, she is an artist you do not want to miss!

13/04/2023

Introducing: Mani

Mani Kidston is a writer and facilitator originally from Devon. A creative writing graduate, Mani has a penchant for the written word in various forms. She’s a writer of prose, poetry, and a fabricator of zines. Mani’s writing cradles the crevices of emotional experience with a craft that welcomes the reader to feel heard and at home in her work. Brushing through themes of isolation, belonging, nature, and self-growth, Mani’s writing is a skilled yet effortless pleasure with the power to illustrate, captivate and soothe.

12/04/2023

Introducing:

Antonia Purdie is a multi-talented performance artist based in Bristol. 

A performer specialising in burlesque, an artist, and life model. She explores s*xual empowerment and body positivity through movement. 

Originally from Oxford, she moved to Bristol 11 years ago and started expanding her artistic practice in a range of avenues. Starting with aerial, then moving to fire performing, and then finding burlesque was her true passion. Along with this she discovered performance art and life modelling. 

In all of these creative endeavors, it has helped and healed. Antonia suffers from PTSD after a s*xual assault. Through creativity, passion, determination, and support from friends, she has found solace in art. Creating art has been a way of healing and understanding the world for Purdie. Therapy through art is the route of most of her work. 

Swipe for images of her past works, truly remarkable 💜

10/04/2023

Introducing: .greifer

Raina Greifer (she/they) is a Bristol-based theatremaker and producer interested in exploring themes around s*x, consent, and grief.  Her work uses puppetry, poetry, and comedy, often examining the intersection between the personal and political.  Her solo show MANIC about bad s*x and consent won Best Solo Show at Fuse International in 2022 and will be touring across the UK in 2023.  They were shortlisted for the SH24: Sexual Health Awards 2022 as Young Person of the Year for their work on the show.

09/04/2023

Introducing .leeanne.speaker

Andreena Leeanne is a Black Le***an Lived Experience Speaker, Wellbeing Workshop Facilitator, Author & Poet who helps organisations with their inclusion and well-being strategy by speaking about intersectionality, authenticity, allyship also facilitates well-being workshops that focus on self-care.  Andreena writes and performs poetry to come to terms with and speak out about her personal experiences with homelessness, mental health, identity, childhood s*xual abuse & the many other challenges she has faced in her life. 

Her debut poetry collection CHARRED was published by Team Angelica in 2020 and was shortlisted for a Polari First Book Prize in 2021. In January 2015 Andreena founded Poetry LGBT Open Mic Night which is a warm and welcoming space for the LGBTQ+ community to come together to share their experiences & creativity through poetry and spoken word both virtually and in-person.  Follow on all socials. 

In 2018 Andreena was one of Stonewall’s Black History Month role models and was shortlisted for a Positive LGBT Role Model National Diversity Award in 2020. In 2021 Andreena became a trustee of a charity called Action Breaks Silence whose mission is to end violence against women and girls.

08/04/2023

Introducing:

Richard Green is a writer, poet, CSA survivor, and activist.  His poetry about CSA and Trauma aims to help others find the words to express themselves as well as calling for a wider societal understanding of Survivors' experiences.

07/04/2023

Rising urban narrator Eve Piper is a Mancunian spoken word poet and MC (alias Vispera) making her mark on the Bristol poetry scene. She has performed on stages such as Glastonbury festival and was selected to take part in Radio 1Xtra's Words First. As a BBC New Creative, her poem 'Creatures of the Rave' was commissioned into an immersive drum and bass soundscape by BBC Sounds. Eve's poetry finds the lyrical in the fringes and failures of society, her voice chases the conflicts of young womanhood with a rhythmic, raw approach.

Swipe for a past performance from Eve 💜

06/04/2023

Introducing: Soph ()

Soph is a Northen poet, events producer & arts facilitator residing in Bristol. Like many people, being alone with their thoughts during the pandemic meant a cathartic form of expression was needed, and her incessant word vomit hasn’t stopped since then. Soph’s work has been in multiple independent zines & publications, with their main focus being on the feminine experience (the good, the bad, and the ugly) and the tidal waves of emotion that come with neurodiversity and mental illness.

Swipe for an incredibly moving poem written by Soph 🤎

05/04/2023

Introducing:

Caleb Staps is a northern poet currently living in Barrow-in-Furness. His poems often explore themes of youth, telling stories from his school days, and mental health, often drawing from his own experiences, as well as comical poems and rants. Caleb is a regular at open mics in Manchester and Leeds as well as being published in various online and print publications including Issue 1 of The Survivor Zine UK.

Check out his page to see his wonderful words 💜

04/04/2023

Introducing

'Writing poetry has been a lifeline for me. It helped me learn how to validate my thoughts, trauma, and experiences through words and process my anger in ways that I never thought I could.

I've loved having opportunities to connect with audiences and people with similar experiences as it gave me a sense of confidence and validation in sharing my story and revealing parts of my life, I never thought I would be able to share. I've recently performed a suite of poetry and jazz called 'Comfort and chaos' raising awareness for a youth homelessness charity that supported me. 

I'm inspired by people's life stories, social and political issues, and topics that affect my life and the people that I care about. I think it's important to talk and share things that some people may not understand and use poetry as a platform; a source of education, compassion, and empathy'.

Such inspiring words from Jess, expect to be blwin away by her works!