Zine Review: Leaving, Coming Home – A Zine About Traveling

ZINES_Zine About TravelingArtzine, Marley Allen-Ash, marleyallenash.com/leavingcominghome, free online

Allen-Ash’s zine comes in a paper envelope with an image of mountains and the sky (or maybe the ocean) overhead. The zine is small and unassuming, with eight panels hued in blue, brown and deep red. First the nameless narrator leaves on a trip, which involves saying goodbye and feeling alone and unfamiliar in a new space. Then they return, leaving new friends and feeling equally alone and unfamiliar in an unchanged space. Allen-Ash’s short zine represents a lovely alternative to our tendency to over-document travel – you can apply any journey, vacation or voyage (actual or metaphorical) to this zine’s pages. We all get hits of nostalgia and sadness when we think of our solo travels, and it is this mood-setting that makes Allen-Ash’s zine so effective. (CJ Blennerhassett)