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Email -> zugpress@gmail.com
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zug press is an independent publishing house based in Brooklyn, NY, and Providence, RI.

zug press values passion, experimentation, multidisciplinarity and community.

TOUCH IT: WHERE WE CALL HOME - SYDNEY HOWARD (2024)


“TOUCH IT” is a project by zug press that gathers artwork around a specific theme. By transforming artwork into artist interview zines and riso/inkjet prints, zug press aims to create small, physical, tactile works that offer greater accessibility to the audience, provide another form of the original work, and give an additional way to connect with the artists.

In our first collection “Where We Call Home”, we explore the notion of home with lens- and video-based artist Sydney Howard. Together, We discussed how her family shaped her artistic practice and how art served as a healing process for her. Sydney’s work emphasized the materiality and the tactility of physical objects. We explore in this zine the dynamic between material and memory in her work. Her pieces, particularly the lace photograms, are presented on paper through risograph printing.

Sydney Howard is a visual artist from upstate New York, currently based in Providence, Rhode Island. Her multidisciplinary practice is primarily rooted in photography, video and installation and centers around themes of memory, trauma, gender and labor. She earned an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2024 and a BFA from Syracuse University in 2018.


5 x 7 ½ inch
28 pages, with gatefold spread

Artist: Sydney Howard
Editorial Design: Xinyuan Qu
Art Direction: zug press

150 copies, numbered; printed in August 2024, Providence
Mono-color Risograph; Laser Print

Production credit: Tam Stockton, Yuanhui Li, Yuchen Wang






DREAMING OF BEING A BUTTERFLY (2024)

Zhu Gaocanyue: In the past year, I walked around the riverside near my home day by day. A mind flying away, feet touching ground, daylight becoming dreams. I find myself waking up in sweat some mornings, feeling exhausted. An entire lifetime in a dream dissipates in a second. And the records I wrote are broken.

The illusion seems alive, the reality is still touchable. I can not tell which is more meaningful.

“Once upon a time, Zhuangzi dreamed he was a butterfly, a vivid and lifelike butterfly, feeling that it was enjoying itself. He was completely unaware of being Zhuangzi. Suddenly, he woke up, and then he was undeniably Zhuangzi. He could not told whether he was Zhuangzi who had just dreamt of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming of being Zhuangzi. There must be a distinction between Zhuangzi and the butterfly. This is what is called the Transformation of Things.”
-- “Qiwulun,” Zhuangzi

The butterfly is me, and me is the butterfly. It flies through every breath in, every breath out.
November, 2023
Providence, RI, U.S.A.
4⅛ x 5 inch
20 pages

Artist: Zhu Gaocanyue

30 copies, numbered; printed in April 2024, Providence.
Risograph with black ink, hardback, laser print with white ink. Accordion.

    

I HAVE NOT BROKEN A LEG YET (2024)

8½ x 11 inch
6 pages with extra 3 pages glued.

Artist: Zhu Gaocanyue

20 copies, numbered; printed in March 2024, Providence.
Risograph with medium blue and black, paper back, inkjet print. Stitch bound.

    

THIS APPEARS TO BE A TACIT AGREEMENT BETWEEN US (2024)

这好像是我们之间的一种默契 (2024)
Crafted from pieces of Zuya’s own diary spanning 2022-2023. It features phrases and fragmented sentences that capture her journey from being a introspective and evolving version of herself to becoming a more composed and mature individual. This zine also reflects her thoughts, the books she've read, the experiences she had and the people around her who love her. It is complemented by self-portraits and daily photos.2 x 7½ inch
16 pages with gatefold spread

Artist: Zuya Yang

20 copies, numbered; printed in March 2024, Providence
Laser Print

     
PHOTO BRICK (2024)
“Photo Brick” is a 7-color risograph zine collaborated by five photographers using their own cell phone daily photos. Artists selected everyday photographs and printed them using 7 riso ink colors, layering them to create unique compositions and color combinations. This zine presents a fresh and bold exploration of the significance of photography and riso printing. The artists named it “photo brick,” symbolizing the essential and foundational nature of daily photos and its thickness reminiscent of a brick.

3½ x 2½ inch
60  Pages

Artists: Zhu Gaocanyue, Zuya Yang, Natasha Du, Ethan Brossard, Grady Sumrall 
Art Direction and Design: zug press

7 colors Risograph

    
Spirit Awry 游神
Ruishen Hong & Vincent Zhou: During the Spring Festival of 2024, we visited towns in Minhou and Changle districts of Fuzhou, Fujian Province, embarking on a two-week documentation journey. Unlike the locals,  as the outsiders, we felt detached and bewildered when we stepped into the realm of the procession. We let our feelings guide the shutter, consciously or unconsciously, capturing moments while attempting to understand the essence of this grand event. Rather than simply observing folk activities, we aimed to present our personal interpretation of local culture through images.

As creators from different backgrounds than the local ones, we attempt to document each procession we participate in from an outsider's perspective. We immerse ourselves in the deity parade, following the crowd in a detached state, moving towards the unknown. In this book, we use fragmented images to try to recreate the scenes of the deity parades as seen through the eyes of an observer.

Artists: Ruishen Hong, Vincent Zhou, Cao Yi
Automatism Studio

Color Offset Photo Book

Distributed by zug press in United States



Obscurities (使者的云)
Obscurities is a collaboration between photographer Vera Xia (Bard 21’) and poet Yeo Meng (Harvard 21’). Both were born and raised in China, and studied in the U.S., the shared transcultural experiences and poetic sensibility toward the ever-changing world induced this pocket artist book. In Obscurities, COVID-19 epidemic, cross-nation travel, identity crisis, youth culture, political disillusionment, queer bodies build a bridge between Beijing and the East Coast. Both poetry and photography are ways of opening up the imagination and emotions; the poetry in the book does not point to photography, and vice versa. In this book, you may see a parallel universe created by photography, book design, material, and words.

Artists: Vera Xia, Yao MENG, Cao Yi

Color Offset Photo Book

Distributed by zug press in United States