As part of The Showroom’s 2017 Communal Knowledge programme, OOMK will be working with young people from King Solomon Academy to deliver a zine-making and self-publishing course. Zines have a rich history of being used as a non-traditional resource to explore issues and ideas surrounding politics, identity, personal stories and self care. The course will not only introduce students to the plethora of zine publications available, (and the distribution culture surrounding them) but teach students how to create a range of handmade publications using various text, image, print and copy techniques, structured around self-initiated dialogue on topics relating to identity, education and place. The course will culminate in an anthology zine of the student’s work and an exhibition of all the zines made.

OOMK will also work with Justice for Domestic Workers a self organised union for migrant domestic workers developing pamphlets around education and survival.

The zines and pamphlets will be produced at OOMK’s community printing press, Rabbits Road Press. A small-scale publishing press based in Rabbits Road Institute (Old Manor Park Library) providing printing and book binding services for artists and community groups.

OOMK Manifesto

1. To quote John La Rose ‘Publishing is a vehicle to an independent validation to one’s own culture, history, politics and sense of self’

2. OOMK positions itself within a tradition of independent publishing by utilising print and design as a tool to communicate messages and create communities.

3. OOMK takes the aspirations and concerns of women and girls seriously and recognises and nurtures their creative work and intellectual contributions of women in fields where they are often undermined or downplayed.

4. OOMK works to highlight the artistic and intellectual practices of women and rejects the objectification of women.

5. OOMK works to dismantle racial and gender hierarchies within the creative industries, which will in turn assist in correcting the narrative imbalances and erasures created by mainstream institutions.

6. OOMK recognises the injustices faced by ethnic minority communities and holds that dismantling structures that perpetuate this is a communal responsibility.

7. OOMK believes that permission is not needed in order for people to organise on their own terms and within their communities.

8. OOMK recognises that current sanctioned educational institutions perpetuate a culture of inclusivity and indebtedness, which sustain racial and economic hierarchies.

9. OOMK supports alternative and traditional sites of knowledge acquisition and believes that critical thinking should be nurtured and developed.

10. OOMK maintains a respect and engagement with people of different faiths/no faith recognising that religion and spirituality preoccupy the lives of many.

11. OOMK challenges media demonisation and state persecution/harassment of religious minorities.

12. OOMK takes inspiration from decolonial, feminist, religious and punk movements in creating methods of self-organisation.

OOMK is an artist collective and biannual publication run by Heiba Lamara, Sofia Niazi and Rose Nordin. As an artist collective OOMK co-curate the annual DIY Cultures Fair in London and run many self initiated projects, most recently launching community risograph press, Rabbits Road Press. The biannual publication OOMK Zine explores themes surrounding women, art and activism and features work from women of diverse ethnic and spiritual backgrounds. OOMK.net